Absolute negative mobility in a one-dimensional overdamped system driven by active fluctuations

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that absolute negative mobility can occur in an overdamped one-dimensional system driven by active fluctuations, simplifying previous models and offering insights into biological and microscopic transport phenomena.

Contribution

It shows that ANM can arise in an overdamped system with active fluctuations, reducing the complexity of earlier models involving inertia and nonequilibrium states.

Findings

ANM observed in overdamped systems with active fluctuations

Active Poisson shot noise induces ANM in symmetric potentials

Potential applications in biological and microscopic transport strategies

Abstract

Absolute negative mobility (ANM) is one of the most paradoxical transport phenomena in which a setup moves on average in a direction opposite to the applied force. According to the state of the art a minimal system exhibiting this effect in a one-dimensional dynamics involves an inertial particle subjected to a constant bias when dwelling in a nonlinear symmetric periodic potential in a nonequilibrium} and nonstationary state generated by an external driving. In this work we remarkably reduce its complexity and show that it may occur in a system composed of an overdamped particle in piecewise linear symmetric periodic potential in an equilibrium state provided that it is driven by active fluctuations in the form of white Poisson shot noise. Our result may help to explain exotic transport behavior emerging in biological cells where dynamics is typically overdamped and assisted by active fluctuations derived from various metabolic activities. It can be also exploited for effective separation strategies in a microscopic world thus transforming fluctuations from a nuisance into a functional resource.