A.c.-driven jump distributions on a periodic substrate

Abstract

A driven Brownian particle (e.g. an adatom on a surface) diffusing on a low-viscosity, periodic substrate may execute multiple jumps. In the presence of an additional periodic drive, the jump lengths and time durations become statistically modulated according to a synchronization mechanism reminiscent of asymmetric stochastic resonance. Here, too, bistability plays a key role, but in a dynamical sense, inasmuch as the particle switches between locked and running states.