2006/10/23 by Alejandro B. Kolton
Engineering · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Classical mechanics #Condensed matter physics #Ecosystem dynamics and resilience #Einstein relation #Engineering #Mechanics #Particle (ecology) #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Ratchet #Ratchet effect #Rectification #Thermal #Thermodynamics #Transverse plane #Work (physics) #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.stat-mech #stochastic dynamics and bifurcation
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.75.020201
published as Phys. Rev. B 75, 020201(R) (2007) · 4.5 pages, 3 figs
arxiv created 2006/10/23 · openalex publication_date 2007/01/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study numerically the overdamped motion of particles driven in a two-dimensional ratchet potential. In the proposed design, of the so-called geometrical-ratchet type, the mean velocity of a single particle in response to a constant force has a transverse component that can be induced by the presence of thermal or other unbiased fluctuations. We find that additional quenched disorder can strongly enhance the transverse drift at low temperatures, in spite of reducing the transverse mobility. We show that, under general conditions, the rectified transverse velocity of a driven particle fluid is equivalent to the response of a one-dimensional flashing ratchet working at a drive-dependent effective temperature, defined through generalized Einstein relations.