Beyond the dynamic density functional theory for steady currents: Application to driven colloidal particles in a channel

Abstract

Motivated by recent studies on the dynamics of colloidal solutions in narrow channels, we consider the steady state properties of an assembly of noninteracting particles subject to the action of a traveling potential moving at a constant speed, while the solvent is modeled by a heat bath at rest in the laboratory frame. Here, since the description we propose takes into account the inertia of the colloidal particles, it is necessary to consider the evolution of both positions and momenta and study the governing equation for the one-particle phase-space distribution. First, we derive the asymptotic form of its solutions as an expansion in Hermite polynomials and their generic properties, such as the force and energy balance, and then we particularize our study to the case of an inverted parabolic potential barrier. We numerically obtain the steady state density and temperature profile and show that the expansion is rapidly convergent for large values of the friction constant and small drifting velocities. On the one hand, the present results confirm the previous studies based on the dynamic density functional theory (DDFT): On the other hand, when the friction constant is large, it display effects such as the presence of a wake behind the barrier and a strong inhomogeneity in the temperature field which are beyond the DDFT description.