Entropic Ratchet transport of interacting active Brownian particles

TL;DR

This study investigates how interactions among active Brownian particles in confined geometries influence directed transport, revealing complex dependencies on interaction strength and nature, with potential implications for controlling microscopic transport processes.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical analysis of entropic ratchet transport considering particle interactions, highlighting their significant impact on directed motion in active matter systems.

Findings

Attractive particles show non-monotonic velocity dependence on interaction strength.

Weak repulsive interactions lead to a critical point with minimal velocity.

Strong interactions make average velocity independent of interaction type.

Abstract

Directed transport of interacting active (self-propelled)Brownian particles is numerically investigated in confined geometries (entropic barriers). The self-propelled velocity can break thermodynamical equilibrium and induce the directed transport. It is found that the interaction between active particles can greatly affect the ratchet transport. For attractive particles, on increasing the interaction strength, the average velocity firstly decreases to its minima, then increases, and finally decreases to zero. For repulsive particles, when the interaction is very weak, there exists a critical interaction at which the average velocity is minimal, nearly tends to zero, however, for the strong interaction, the average velocity is independent of the interaction.