Phase shift induces currents in a periodic tube

TL;DR

This study demonstrates how phase shifts between tube shape and potential can induce and control net currents in a simplified model of molecular motor movement, revealing multiple current reversals with temperature and phase adjustments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism where phase shifts induce currents in a reduced-dimensional model of molecular motors, highlighting symmetry breaking effects.

Findings

Phase shift can induce net currents in the system.

Current reversals occur with changes in temperature and phase shift.

Optimal conditions maximize current based on system parameters.

Abstract

The average current of an overdamped Brownian particle moving along the axis of a three-dimensional periodic tube is investigated in the presence of a symmetric potential and a temporally symmetric unbiased external force. Reduction of the spatial dimensionality from two or three physical dimensions to an effective one dimensional system entails the appearance of not only an entropic barrier but also an effective diffusion coefficient. We find that the phase shift between the tube shape and the potential can break the symmetry of the effective potential and can induce net currents. Under optimal condition, the current as a function of temperature and the phase shift possesses many extrema of alternating signs. The current may reverse its direction several times when temperature or the phase shift is changed. Our model is to describe the movement of molecular motors along microtubule.