Far-from-equilibrium transport in quasi-1D structures

Mechanical and thermal properties of out-of-equilibrium media containing active particles are investigated within the theoretical framework of stochastic thermodynamics. We study effective forces from such systems to attached and externally controlled probes, and we relate anomalous features of the forces to non-equilibrium thermodynamic and kinetic properties of the medium itself. We also consider non-mechanical probing like the measurement of heat response to variations in temperature or chemical potentials.
As a realistic model, we study movement of particles sized from 10 to 1000nm under the influnce of strong external driving, which may be either low-frequency alternating electrical field or hydrodynamic forces or stochastically changing difference in chemical potentials. All of these systems are modelled in the framework of Brownian and hydrodynamic ratchet. The study is on one side directed toward interpretation of experiments with colloidal particles and molecular motors, on te other side toward development of generic schemes for variational formulation of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. We also investigate a model in which the tube is discretized and the particles move according to the rules of the asymmetric exclusion process (ASEP). In particular, we investigate generalization of the ASEP with particles of two (or more)sizes.
People involved (alphabetically): kotrlafzu [dot] cz (Miroslav Kotrla), netocnyfzu [dot] cz (Karel Netočný), slaninafzu [dot] cz (František Slanina),
Representative publication(s):
F. Slanina: Inertial hydrodynamic ratchet: Rectification of colloidal flow in tubes of variable diameter, Phys. Rev. E 94, 042610 (2016).
​U. Basu, C. Maes, and K. Netočný, How statistical forces depend on thermodynamics and kinetics of driven media, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114 (2015) 250601.​