Roughness in the periodic potential induces absolute negative mobility in a driven Brownian ratchet.

Abstract

Absolute negative mobility, where particles move opposite to the direction as governed by the external load, is an anomalous transport property of a Brownian ratchet and has technological implications in mass separation and bioanalytical applications. We numerically investigated here the effect of roughness in symmetric periodic potential on the negative mobility of a driven inertial Brownian ratchet in the presence of an external load. We show that the microscopic spatial heterogeneity of the potential can generate negative mobility which would not otherwise be possible under smooth potential in the concerned parameter space. We determined the optimal condition in terms of parameter space for such anomalous behavior. Our calculations indicate that the shift of balance towards the negative velocity phase in the temporal oscillations of velocity and weakly chaotic dynamics are responsible factors for roughness-induced negative mobility. These calculations highlight a constructive role of roughness in the anomalous transport properties of Brownian ratchet.