Active Matter Ratchets with an External Drift

TL;DR

This paper investigates how external drift influences active matter ratchets with asymmetric barriers, revealing conditions for enhanced rectification, reversed motion, and effects of particle interactions in two-dimensional arrays.

Contribution

It introduces the study of external drift effects on active matter ratchets with complex geometries, showing how drift can enhance, reverse, or suppress ratchet behavior.

Findings

External drift can significantly enhance ratchet effects.

Run-and-tumble particles can move opposite to each other based on run length.

Particle interactions can either enhance or suppress rectification depending on conditions.

Abstract

When active matter particles such as swimming bacteria are placed in an asymmetric array of funnels, it has been shown that a ratchet effect can occur even in the absence of an external drive. Here we examine active ratchets for two dimensional arrays of funnels or L-shapes where there is also an externally applied dc drive or drift. We show that for certain conditions, the ratchet effect can be strongly enhanced, and that it is possible to have conditions under which run-and-tumble particles with one run length move in the opposite direction from particles with a different run length. For the arrays of L-shapes, we find that the application of a drift force can enhance a transverse rectification in the direction perpendicular to the drift. When particle-particle steric interactions are included, we find that the ratchet effects can be either enhanced or suppressed depending on barrier geometry, particle run length, and particle density.