Vortex ratchet
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-07 v1
Abstract
We present a new class of thermal ratchets operating under the action of a symmetry breaking non-Hermitian perturbation which rectifies thermal fluctuations, and driven by a unbiased periodic force. The peculiar non-Hermitian dynamics which follows causes energy transduction from the force to the system in such a way that an average `uphill' particle current is induced. We discuss physical realizations in assemblies of orientable particles, in itinerant oscillator models, and in problems of diffusion in disordered media.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0211067,
title = {Vortex ratchet},
author = {A. Perez-Madrid and T. Alarcon and J. M. Rubi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0211067},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Contribution to the Proceedings to the meeting `Stochastic Systems: From Randomness to Complexity'. (Erice, Italy, July 2002) to appear in a special issue of Physica A