|
|
Collective dynamics of Brownian particles in heterogeneous media
Voráč, David ; Ryabov, Artem (advisor) ; Allolio, Christoph (referee)
Non-equilibrium transport processes in confined geometries are of fundamental impor- tance in nature and engineering. In non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, models of such systems play a crucial role in our understanding of non-equilibrium steady states. Here we implement a recently introduced model, the Brownian asymmetric simple exclusion process, and discuss several of its unexplored properties. In jammed systems, particle currents are mediated via collective thermal excitation, rare events whose description can be quite involved. We approach them for crowded systems of hard spheres in peri- odic potential and derive generation rates together with their surprisingly high velocities. Eventually, we discuss an apparent jamming transition observable in the crowded system. Further, we investigate the transport properties of polydisperse hard-sphere mixtures in the periodic potential. We comment on and explain a link between a monodisperse re- current pattern of the current and patterns found in binary and ternary mixtures. We show a detrimental effect of size variance on the particle current. Lastly, we approximate currents for weak driving forces by applying density functional theory to the density func- tional of a polydisperse system and report the unsatisfactory results. The findings are also...
|
guest ::
