Transport and Fractionation in Periodic Potential-Energy Landscapes

TL;DR

This paper studies how objects move through two-dimensional periodic energy landscapes, revealing that their transport direction can become locked-in and highly size-selective due to the landscape's periodicity, especially in overdamped conditions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the transition from free to locked-in transport depends exponentially on object size, highlighting a novel size-selectivity mechanism in periodic landscapes.

Findings

Transport direction locking is independent of driving force orientation.

Size-dependent exponential crossover from free-flow to locked-in transport.

Periodic environment induces exceptional size selectivity.

Abstract

Objects driven through periodically modulated potential-energy landscapes in two dimensions can become locked in to symmetry-selected directions that are independent of the driving force's orientation. We investigate this problem in the overdamped limit, and demonstrate that the crossover from free-flowing to locked-in transport can depend exponentially on an object's size, with this exceptional selectivity emerging from the periodicity of the environment.