Sporer S, Goll C, Mecke K (2008)
Publication Status: Published
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2008
Publisher: AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Book Volume: 78
Journal Issue: 1
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.78.011917
We show that Brownian motion is spatially not symmetric for mesoscopic particles embedded in a fluid if the particle is not in thermal equilibrium and its shape is not spherical. In view of applications to molecular motors in biological cells, we sustain nonequilibrium by stopping a nonspherical particle at periodic sites along a filament. Molecular dynamics simulations in a Lennard-Jones fluid demonstrate that directed motion is possible without a ratchet potential or temperature gradients if the asymmetric nonequilibrium relaxation process is hindered by external stopping. Analytical calculations in the ideal gas limit show that motion even against a fluid drift is possible and that the direction of motion can be controlled by the shape of the particle, which is completely characterized by tensorial Minkowski functionals.
APA:
Sporer, S., Goll, C., & Mecke, K. (2008). Motion by stopping: Rectifying Brownian motion of nonspherical particles. Physical Review E, 78(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.78.011917
MLA:
Sporer, Susan, Christian Goll, and Klaus Mecke. "Motion by stopping: Rectifying Brownian motion of nonspherical particles." Physical Review E 78.1 (2008).
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