• Editors' Suggestion

Absolute Negative Mobility of an Active Tracer in a Crowded Environment

Pierre Rizkallah, Alessandro Sarracino, Olivier Bénichou, and Pierre Illien
Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 218201 – Published 22 May 2023
PDFHTMLExport Citation

Abstract

Absolute negative mobility (ANM) refers to the situation where the average velocity of a driven tracer is opposite to the direction of the driving force. This effect was evidenced in different models of nonequilibrium transport in complex environments, whose description remains effective. Here, we provide a microscopic theory for this phenomenon. We show that it emerges in the model of an active tracer particle submitted to an external force and which evolves on a discrete lattice populated with mobile passive crowders. Resorting to a decoupling approximation, we compute analytically the velocity of the tracer particle as a function of the different parameters of the system and confront our results to numerical simulations. We determine the range of parameters where ANM can be observed, characterize the response of the environment to the displacement of the tracer, and clarify the mechanism underlying ANM and its relationship with negative differential mobility (another hallmark of driven systems far from the linear response).

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 2 December 2022
  • Revised 17 February 2023
  • Accepted 11 April 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.218201

© 2023 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Statistical Physics & Thermodynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Pierre Rizkallah1, Alessandro Sarracino2,3, Olivier Bénichou4, and Pierre Illien1

  • 1Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Électrolytes et Nanosystèmes Interfaciaux (PHENIX), 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
  • 2Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81031 Aversa (CE), Italy
  • 3Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi—CNR, P.le Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
  • 4Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée (LPTMC), 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

Supplemental Material (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 130, Iss. 21 — 26 May 2023

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×