Meandering Brownian Donkeys

摘要

We consider a Brownian particle whose motion is confined to a “meandering” pathway and which is driven away from thermal equilibrium by an alternating external force. This system exhibits absolute negative mobility, i.e. when an external static force is applied the particle moves in the direction opposite to that force. We reveal the physical mechanism behind this “donkey-like” behavior, and derive analytical approximations that are in excellent agreement with numerical results.