Noise-induced transport of two coupled particles

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2001 Mar;63(3 Pt 1):031914. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.63.031914. Epub 2001 Feb 27.

Abstract

We study the motion of two harmonically coupled particles in a sawtooth potential. The particles are subject to temporally correlated multiplicative noise. The stationary current is calculated in an expansion about the limit of rigid coupling. For two coupled particles a driving mechanism occurs which is different from the one occurring in the case of a single particle. In particular this mechanism does not need diffusion. Depending on the equilibrium distance of the particles and the coupling constant, a current reversal occurs. Possible relevance as a model for motor proteins is discussed.

MeSH terms

  • Biological Transport
  • Computer Simulation
  • Energy Transfer*
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Models, Statistical*
  • Molecular Motor Proteins / chemistry*
  • Motion*
  • Proteins / chemistry*
  • Stochastic Processes*

Substances

  • Molecular Motor Proteins
  • Proteins