Mirror symmetry breaking through an internal degree of freedom leading to directional motion

We analyze here the minimal conditions for directional motion (net flow in phase space) of a molecular motor placed on a mirror-symmetric environment and driven by a center-symmetric and time-periodic force field. The complete characterization of the deterministic limit of the dissipative dynamics of several realizations of this minimal model, reveals a complex structure in the phase diagram in parameter space, with intertwined regions of pinning (closed orbits) and directional motion. This demonstrates that the mirror-symmetry breaking which is needed for directional motion to occur, can operate through an internal degree of freedom coupled to the translational one.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Rectification Through Entropic Barriers

The dynamics of Brownian motion has widespread applications extending from transport in designed micro-channels up to its prominent role for inducing transport in molecular motors and Brownian motors. Here, Brownian transport is studied in micro-sized, two dimensional periodic channels, exhibiting periodically varying cross sections. The particles in addition are subjected to a constant external force acting alongside the direction of the longitudinal channel axis. For a fixed channel geometry, the dynamics of the two dimensional problem is characterized by a single dimensionless parameter which is proportional to the ratio of the applied force and the temperature of the environment. In such structures entropic effects may play a dominant role. Under certain conditions the two dimensional dynamics can be approximated by an effective one dimensional motion of the particle in the longitudinal direction. The Langevin equation describing this reduced, one dimensional process is of the type of the Fick-Jacobs equation. It contains an entropic potential determined by the varying extension of the eliminated transversal channel direction, and a correction to the diffusion constant that introduces a space dependent diffusion. We analyze the influence of broken channel symmetry and the validity of the Fick-Jacobs equation. For the nonlinear mobility we find a temperature dependence which is opposite to that known for particle transport in periodic energetic potentials. The influence of entropic effects is discussed for both, the nonlinear mobility, and the effective diffusion constant. In case of broken reflection symmetry rectification occurs and there is a favored direction for particle transport. The rectification effect could be maximized due to the optimal chosen absolute value of the applied bias