Negative differential mobility in interacting particle systems

Optimum transport in systems with time-dependent drive and short-ranged interactions

We consider a one-dimensional lattice gas model of hardcore particles with nearest-neighbor interaction in presence of a time-periodic external potential. We investigate how attractive or repulsive interaction affects particle transport and determine the conditions for optimum transport, i.e., the conditions for which the maximum dc particle current is achieved in the system. We find that the attractive interaction in fact hinders the transport, while the repulsive interaction generally enhances it. The net dc current is a result of the competition between the current induced by the periodic external drive and the diffusive current present in the system. When the diffusive current is negligible, particle transport in the limit of low particle density is optimized for the strongest possible repulsion. But when the particle density is large, very strong repulsion makes particle movement difficult in an overcrowded environment and, in that case, the optimal transport is obtained for somewhat weaker repulsive interaction. Our numerical simulations show reasonable agreement with our mean-field calculations. When the diffusive current is significantly large, the particle transport is still facilitated by repulsive interaction, but the conditions for optimality change. Our numerical simulations show that the optimal transport occurs at the strongest repulsive interaction for large particle density and at a weaker repulsion for small particle density.

Macroscopic charge segregation in driven polyelectrolyte solutions

Understanding the behavior of charged complex fluids is crucial for a plethora of important industrial, technological, and medical applications. Here, using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the properties of a polyelectrolyte solution with explicit counterions and implicit solvent that is driven by a steady electric field. By properly tuning the interplay between interparticle electrostatics and the applied electric field, we uncover two non-equilibrium continuous phase transitions as a function of the driving field. The first transition occurs from a homogeneous mixed phase to a macroscopic charge-segregated phase in which the polyelectrolyte solution self-organizes to form two lanes of like-charges, parallel to the applied field. We show that the fundamental underlying factor responsible for the emergence of this charge segregation in the presence of an electric field is the excluded volume interactions of the drifting polyelectrolyte chains. As the driving field is increased further, a re-entrant transition is observed from a charge-segregated phase to a homogeneous phase. The re-entrance is signaled by a decrease in the mobility of the monomers and counterions as the electric field is increased. Furthermore, with multivalent counterions, a counterintuitive regime of negative differential mobility is observed in which the charges move progressively more slowly as the driving field is increased. We show that all these features can be consistently explained using an intuitive trapping mechanism that operates between the oppositely moving charges, and present numerical evidence to support our claims. Parameter dependencies and phase diagrams are studied to better understand charge segregation in such driven polyelectrolyte solutions.

Absolute negative mobility of active polymer chains in steady laminar flows

We investigate the transport of active polymer chains in steady laminar flows in the presence of thermal noise and an external constant force. In the model, the polymer chain is worm-like and is propelled by active forces along its tangent vectors. Compared with inertial Brownian particles, active polymer chains in steady laminar flows exhibit richer movement patterns due to their specific spatial structures. The simulation results show that the velocity-force relation is strongly dependent on the system parameters such as the chain length, bending rigidity, active force and so on. The polymer chain may move in some preferential movement directions and exhibits absolute negative mobility within appropriate parameter regimes, i.e., the polymer chain can move in a direction opposite to the external constant force. In particular, we can observe giant negative mobility in a broad range of parameter regimes.

Strong-chaos-caused negative mobility in a periodic substrate potential

We numerically investigate negative mobility of an inertial Brownian particle moving in a periodic double-well substrate potential in the presence of a time-periodic force and a constant bias. For the deterministic case, we find from the average velocity that the varying shape parameter and driving forces can cause negative mobility, differential negative mobility, and giant positive mobility. We analyze these findings via the bifurcation diagram and maximal Lyapunov exponent and find that certain chaos can give rise to negative mobility. For the presence of a Gaussian color noise, the results suggest that the noise intensity can enhance or result in negative and positive mobilities, whereas correlation time can enhance, weaken, or even eliminate them. On the basis of the time series, phase-space map, and power spectrum of various attractors, we unveil how these mobilities connect to strong chaotic attractors (SCAs), including both stable attractor and unstable attractors, and propose an underlying mechanism that SCAs can result in the negative mobility, whereas other attractors do not. Our findings may be potentially useful for research on anomalous transports of the particles and on designs of various devices, such as atomic chains, crystals with dislocations, and superconducting nanowires, etc.

Spontaneous rectification and absolute negative mobility of inertial Brownian particles induced by Gaussian potentials in steady laminar flows

We study the transport of inertial Brownian particles in steady laminar flows in the presence of two-dimensional Gaussian potentials. Through extensive numerical simulations, it is found that the transport is sensitively dependent on the external constant force and the Gaussian potential. Within tailored parameter regimes, the system exhibits a rich variety of transport behaviors. There exists the phenomenon of spontaneous rectification (SR), where the directed transport of particles can occur in the absence of any external driving forces. It is found that SR of the particles can be manipulated by the spatial position of the Gaussian potential. Moreover, when the potential lies at the center of the cellular flow, the system exhibits absolute negative mobility (ANM), i.e., the particles can move in a direction opposite to the constant force. More importantly, the phenomenon of ANM induced by Gaussian potentials is robust in a wide range of system parameters and can be further strengthened with the optimized parameters, which may pave the way to the implementation of related experiments.

Tracer diffusion in crowded narrow channels

We summarise different results on the diffusion of a tracer particle in lattice gases of hard-core particles with stochastic dynamics, which are confined to narrow channels-single-files, comb-like structures and quasi-one-dimensional channels with the width equal to several particle diameters. We show that in such geometries a surprisingly rich, sometimes even counter-intuitive, behaviour emerges, which is absent in unbounded systems. This is well-documented for the anomalous diffusion in single-files. Less known is the anomalous dynamics of a tracer particle in crowded branching single-files-comb-like structures, where several kinds of anomalous regimes take place. In narrow channels, which are broader than single-files, one encounters a wealth of anomalous behaviours in the case where the tracer particle is subject to a regular external bias: here, one observes an anomaly in the temporal evolution of the tracer particle velocity, super-diffusive at transient stages, and ultimately a giant diffusive broadening of fluctuations in the position of the tracer particle, as well as spectacular multi-tracer effects of self-clogging of narrow channels. Interactions between a biased tracer particle and a confined crowded environment also produce peculiar patterns in the out-of-equilibrium distribution of the environment particles, very different from the ones appearing in unbounded systems. For moderately dense systems, a surprising effect of a negative differential mobility takes place, such that the velocity of a biased tracer particle can be a non-monotonic function of the force. In some parameter ranges, both the velocity and the diffusion coefficient of a biased tracer particle can be non-monotonic functions of the density. We also survey different results obtained for a tracer particle diffusion in unbounded systems, which will permit a reader to have an exhaustively broad picture of the tracer diffusion in crowded environments.