Efficiency of Interacting Brownian Motors: Improved Mean-Field Treatment

The “reversible ratchet” model of interacting Brownian motors, introduced by us earlier, is investigated using a one-site approximation of a mean-field type. We confirm the effect of enhanced efficiency due to repulsive interaction and we provide arguments suggesting that the enhancement is of energetic, rather than entropic, origin. We also check the validity of the fluctuation theorem for stationary particle current.