Pseudo energy wells in active systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates how active systems can generate effective energy wells, or pseudo-wells, through noise correlations and non-equilibrium driving, providing insights into biological stabilization mechanisms.

Contribution

It demonstrates the formation of pseudo-energy wells in an overdamped stochastic system and links this to noise correlations and active stabilization.

Findings

Pseudo-wells can form in active systems with specific noise correlations.

Transition from negative to positive rigidity depends on noise and driving conditions.

Subtle differences in non-equilibrium driving affect pseudo-well emergence.

Abstract

Active stabilization in systems with zero or negative stiffness is an essential element of a wide variety of biological processes. We study a prototypical example of this phenomenon at a micro-scale and show how active rigidity, interpreted as a formation of a pseudo-well in the effective energy landscape, can be generated in an overdamped ratchet-type stochastic system. We link the transition from negative to positive rigidity with correlations in the noise and show that subtle differences in out-of-equilibrium driving may compromise the emergence of a pseudo-well.