title: Velocity anomaly of a driven tracer in a confined crowded environment.
abstract: We consider a discrete model in which a tracer performs a random walk biased by an external force, in a dense bath of particles performing symmetric random walks constrained by hard-core interactions. We reveal the emergence of a striking velocity anomaly in confined geometries: in quasi-1D systems such as stripes or capillaries, the velocity of the tracer displays a long-lived plateau before ultimately dropping to a lower value. We develop an analytical solution that quantitatively accounts for this intriguing behavior. Our analysis suggests that such a velocity anomaly could be a generic feature of driven dynamics in quasi-1D crowded systems.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée (UMR CNRS 7600), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75255 Paris Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Illien
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée (UMR CNRS 7600), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75255 Paris Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bénichou
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée (UMR CNRS 7600), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75255 Paris Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Gleb
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oshanin
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée (UMR CNRS 7600), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75255 Paris Cedex, France and Laboratoire Jean Perrin, FRE 3231 CNRS /UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, 75255 Paris Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Raphaël
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Voituriez
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003441:Crowding; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D008962:Models, Theoretical
chemical_list: D005740:Gases