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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 29, 2026

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

Published on: May 1, 2018

Perturbative path-integral study of active- and passive-tracer diffusion in fluctuating fields.

Vincent Démery¹, David S Dean

¹Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, IRSAMC, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse Cedex 4, France.

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

|August 27, 2011

Summary

We calculated the diffusion of a Brownian particle interacting with a fluctuating field. Coupling can enhance diffusion, acting as stochastic resonance for passive tracers.

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Area of Science:

Statistical Mechanics
Soft Matter Physics
Physical Chemistry

Background:

Brownian motion describes particle diffusion in fluids.
Scalar fields are fundamental in various physical systems.
Understanding particle-field interactions is crucial for diverse applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To compute the effective diffusion constant of a Brownian particle coupled to a scalar field.
To investigate the impact of this coupling on diffusion dynamics for both active and passive tracers.
To explore phenomena like stochastic resonance in passive diffusion.

Main Methods:

Path-integral method to calculate the effective diffusion coefficient.
Perturbative expansion to the lowest order in the coupling constant.
Fokker-Planck formulation for probability density function calculation.

Main Results:

The path-integral method is applicable to both active and passive tracer scenarios.
Coupling to the scalar field can accelerate diffusion for passive tracers (stochastic resonance).
Results are consistent between path-integral, Fokker-Planck, and numerical simulations.

Conclusions:

The study provides a theoretical framework for particle diffusion in fluctuating fields.
Demonstrates that field interactions can modify diffusion rates, offering potential for enhanced transport.
The findings have broad applicability in biophysics, materials science, and statistical physics.