Current and diffusion of Overdamped Active Brownian Particles in a Ratchet Potential

TL;DR

This paper investigates how overdamped active Brownian particles move in a ratchet potential, analyzing their current and diffusion, especially focusing on the effects of chirality and angular velocity on transport properties.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of transport and diffusion of active Brownian particles in asymmetric potentials, including the impact of chirality and angular velocity, which was not thoroughly explored before.

Findings

Average current is non-zero due to asymmetric potential.

Diffusivity decreases with increasing angular velocity for chiral particles.

Chirality confines particles and reduces transport efficiency.

Abstract

The transport properties of a spherical active Brownian particle in a periodic potential under heavy damping are considered. The self-propelled particle is subjected to the asymmetric potential, detailed balance is lost and the particles generate a non-zero drift speed. The average current is calculated and the diffusivity of the particle is analyzed from the effective diffusion coefficient. For chiral active particles, the diffusivity decreases with increasing the angular velocity, confining the particle near the initial position, and reducing the average current.