English

Entropic rectification and current inversion in a pulsating channel

Soft Condensed Matter 2016-12-15 v1 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

We show the existence of a resonant behavior of the current of Brownian particles confined in a pulsating channel. The interplay between the periodic oscillations of the shape of the channel and a force applied along its axis leads to an increase of the particle current as a function of the noise level. A regime of current inversion is also observed for particular values of the oscillation frequency and the applied force. The model proposed to obtain these new behaviors of the current is based on the Fick-Jacobs equation in which the entropic barrier and the effective diffusion coefficient depend on time. The phenomenon observed could be used to optimize transport in microfluidic devices or biological channels.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1612.04611,
  title  = {Entropic rectification and current inversion in a pulsating channel},
  author = {M. Florencia Carusela and J. Miguel Rubí},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1612.04611},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T17:23:29.896Z