Speaker
Alberto Imparato
(Aarhus University)
Description
We present a minimal model of an autonomous thermal motor,
made of two interacting Brownian particles, sitting on two
periodic potentials, and kept at different temperatures. We
show that such a system does not require ratchet potentials
(with, e.g., an asymmetric saw-tooth shape) in order to
exhibit direct transport, but presents a spontaneous
symmetry breaking.
Both the dynamic and thermodynamic properties of the model
are discussed. We find that while the model can be solved
exactly in the limit of strong coupling between the
particles, the optimal operation regime occurs at moderate
coupling strength. Furthermore we introduce a model with
discrete phase space which captures the essential features
of the continuous model and can be solved in the limit of
weak coupling.
