Communications: Drift and diffusion in a tube of periodically varying diameter. Driving force induced intermittency.
We show that the effect of driving force F on the effective mobility and diffusion coefficient of a particle in a tube formed by identical compartments may be qualitatively different depending on the compartment shape. In tubes formed by cylindrical (spherical) compartments the mobility monotonically decreases (increases) with F and the diffusion coefficient diverges (remains finite) as F tends to infinity. In tubes formed by cylindrical compartments, at large F there is intermittency in the particle transitions between openings connecting neighboring compartments.
Berezhkovskii
Alexander M
AM
Mathematical and Statistical Computing Laboratory, Division of Computational Bioscience, Center for Information Technology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. berezh@helix.nih.gov
Dagdug
Leonardo
L
Makhnovskii
Yurii A
YA
Zitserman
Vladimir Yu
VY
D004058:Diffusion; D019277:Entropy; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009038:Motion