Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 3, 2026

Sealable Femtoliter Chamber Arrays for Cell-free Biology
Published on: March 11, 2015
Reply to "Comment on 'Ratchet universality in the presence of thermal noise' "
Pedro J Martínez1, Ricardo Chacón2
1Departamento de Física Aplicada, EINA, Universidad de Zaragoza, E-50018 Zaragoza, Spain and Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón, CSIC, Universidad de Zaragoza, E-50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
Abstract:
The Comment by Quintero et al. [preceding Comment, Phys. Rev. E 88, 066101 (2013)] does not dispute the central result of our paper [Martínez and Chacón, Phys. Rev. E 87, 062114 (2013)], which is a theory explaining the interplay between thermal noise and symmetry breaking in the ratchet transport of a Brownian particle moving on a periodic substrate subjected to a temporal biharmonic excitation γ[ηsin(ωt)+α(1-η)sin(2ωt+φ)]. In the Comment, the authors claim, on the sole basis of their numerical simulations for the particular case α=2, that "there is no such universal force waveform and that the evidence obtained by the authors otherwise is due to their particular choice of parameters." Here we demonstrate by means of theoretical arguments and additional numerical simulations that all the conclusions of our original article are preserved.
Related Concept Videos
Statements of the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
The relation between entropy and disorder can be illustrated with the example of the phase change of ice to water. In ice, the molecules are located at specific sites giving a solid state, whereas, in a liquid form, these molecules are much freer to move. The molecular arrangement has therefore become more randomized. Although the change in average...
Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Second Law of Thermodynamics

