Abstract
It is well known that Brownian ratchets can exhibit current reversals, wherein the sign of the current switches as a function of the driving frequency. We introduce a spatial discretization of such a two-dimensional Brownian ratchet to enable spectral methods that efficiently compute those currents. These discrete-space models provide a convenient way to study the Markovian dynamics conditioned upon generating particular values of the currents. By studying such conditioned processes, we demonstrate that low-frequency negative values of current arise from typical events and high-frequency positive values of current arises from rare events. We demonstrate how these observations can inform the sculpting of time-dependent potential landscapes with a specific frequency response.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 012141 |
| Journal | Physical Review E |
| Volume | 102 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2020 |
Funding
The authors thank H. Vroylandt, O. Kedem, and E. Weiss for helpful discussions. This research was supported in part through the computational resources and staff contributions provided for the Quest high performance computing facility at Northwestern University which is jointly supported by the Office of the Provost, the Office for Research, and Northwestern University Information Technology.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
- Statistics and Probability