English

Stochastic Inference of Surface-Induced Effects using Brownian Motion

Soft Condensed Matter 2021-07-14 v2 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

Brownian motion in confinement and at interfaces is a canonical situation, encountered from fundamental biophysics to nanoscale engineering. Using the Lorenz-Mie framework, we optically record the thermally-induced tridimensional trajectories of individual microparticles, within salty aqueous solutions, in the vicinity of a rigid wall, and in the presence of surface charges. We construct the time-dependent position and displacement probability density functions, and study the non-Gaussian character of the latter which is a direct signature of the hindered mobility near the wall. Based on these distributions, we implement a novel, robust and self-calibrated multifitting method, allowing for the thermal-noise-limited inference of diffusion coefficients spatially-resolved at the nanoscale, equilibrium potentials, and forces at the femtoNewton resolution.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2012.05512,
  title  = {Stochastic Inference of Surface-Induced Effects using Brownian Motion},
  author = {Maxime Lavaud and Thomas Salez and Yann Louyer and Yacine Amarouchene},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.05512},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T20:51:56.562Z