Dumbbell diffusion in a spatially periodic potential
Classical Physics
2008-09-02 v1
Abstract
We present a numerical investigation of the Brownian motion and diffusion of a dumbbell in a two-dimensional periodic potential. Its dynamics is described by a Langevin model including the hydrodynamic interaction. With increasing values of the amplitude of the potential we find along the modulated spatial directions a reduction of the diffusion constant and of the impact of the hydrodynamic interaction. For modulation amplitudes of the potential in the range of the thermal energy the dumbbell diffusion exhibits a pronounced local maximum at a wavelength of about 3/2 of the dumbbell extension. This is especially emphasized for stiff springs connecting the two beads.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0809.0197,
title = {Dumbbell diffusion in a spatially periodic potential},
author = {Jochen Bammert and Steffen Schreiber and Walter Zimmermann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0809.0197},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
4 pages, 7 figures, published in Phys. Rev. E (2008)