Speaker
Hans Fogedby
(Aarhus University)
Description
This study, done in collaboration with Alberto Imparato
(organiser), concerns the symmetric Brownian motor proposed
by Gomez-Marin and Sancho.The model is an
autonomous heat engine with two coupled degrees
of freedom moving in periodic potentials driven by two
temperature biased heat reservoirs. For phase shifted
sinusoidal potentials and a temperature bias the model
exhibits a finite propagation velocity.
We extend the model to general periodic potentials and
present analytic expressions in the strong coupling limit.
We show that the model is related to the Buetikker-Landauer
“Blow Torch” model and to the model of a single degree of
freedom in a titled periodic potential. We, moreover,
analyse the model numerically both within a Langevin and a
Fokker-Planck formulation for general coupling strength and
determine the dependence of the velocity on coupling
strength, temperature bias, and phase shift. We find that
the optimal velocity is obtained already at moderate
coupling strength. We finally evaluate and discuss the
efficiency of the model.
