Invited review: Fluctuation-induced transport. From the very small to the very large scales

Authors

  • G. P. Suárez Dep. de Física, UNMDP e IFIMAR.
  • Miguel Hoyuelos Dep. de Física, UNMDP e IFIMAR.
  • Dante R. Chialvo Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4279/pip.080004

Keywords:

Ratchets, Fluctuations, Transport

Abstract

The study of fluctuation-induced transport is concerned with the directed motion of particles on a substrate when subjected to a fluctuating external field. Work over the last two decades provides now precise clues on how the average transport depends on three fundamental aspects: the shape of the substrate, the correlations of the fluctuations and the mass, geometry, interaction and density of the particles. These three aspects, reviewed here,  acquire additional relevance because the same notions apply to a bewildering variety of problems at very different scales, from the small nano or micro-scale, where thermal fluctuations effects dominate,  up to very large scales including ubiquitous cooperative phenomena in granular materials.

 

Received: 30 October 2015,  Accepted: 4 February  2016; Edited by: G. Martínez Mekler; Reviewed by: J. Mateos, Departamento de Sistemas Complejos, Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.; DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4279/PIP.080004

Cite as: G P Suárez, M Hoyuelos, D R Chialvo, Papers in Physics 8, 080004 (2016)

This paper, by G P Suárez, M Hoyuelos, D R Chialvo, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.
Open Review

Published

2016-04-09

How to Cite

Suárez, G. P., Hoyuelos, M., & Chialvo, D. R. (2016). Invited review: Fluctuation-induced transport. From the very small to the very large scales. Papers in Physics, 8, 080004. https://doi.org/10.4279/pip.080004

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Articles