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Entropic ratchet transport of interacting active Brownian particles
Bao-Quan Ai1, Ya-Feng He2, Wei-Rong Zhong3
1Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, South China Normal University, 510006 Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
Directed transport of interacting active (self-propelled) Brownian particles is numerically investigated in confined geometries (entropic barriers). The self-propelled velocity can break thermodynamical equilibrium and induce the directed transport. It is found that the interaction between active particles can greatly affect the ratchet transport. For attractive particles, on increasing the interaction strength, the average velocity first decreases to its minima, then increases, and finally decreases to zero. For repulsive particles, when the interaction is very weak, there exists a critical interaction at which the average velocity is minimal, nearly tends to zero, however, for the strong interaction, the average velocity is independent of the interaction.
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