Bath-Mediated Interactions between Driven Tracers in Dense Single-Files

TL;DR

This paper analytically investigates how driven tracer particles interact within dense single-file systems, revealing complex cooperative and competitive behaviors influenced by external forces and density inhomogeneities.

Contribution

It provides the first analytical characterization of correlations and interactions between multiple driven tracers in dense single-file systems.

Findings

Revealed out-of-equilibrium cooperativity among driven tracers

Identified competition effects between multiple driven tracers

Quantified the impact of external forces on tracer interactions

Abstract

Single-file transport, where particles cannot bypass each other, has been observed in various experimental setups. In such systems, the behaviour of a tracer particle (TP) is subdiffusive, which originates from strong correlations between particles. These correlations are especially marked when the TP is driven and leads to inhomogeneous density profiles. Determining the impact of this inhomogeneity when several TPs are driven in the system is a key question, related to the general issue of bath-mediated interactions, which are known to induce collective motion and lead to the formation of clusters or lanes in a variety of systems. Quantifying this collective behaviour, the emerging interactions and their dependence on the amplitude of forces driving the TPs, remains a challenging but largely unresolved issue. Here, considering dense single-file systems, we analytically determine the entire dynamics of the correlations and reveal out of equilibrium cooperativity and competition effects between driven TPs.