Driving particle current through narrow channels using classical pump

Abstract

We study a symmetric exclusion process in which the hopping rates at two chosen adjacent sites vary periodically in time and have a relative phase difference. This mimics a colloidal suspension subjected to external space and time dependent modulation of the diffusion constant. The two special sites act as a classical pump by generating an oscillatory current with a nonzero ${\cal DC}$ value whose direction depends on the applied phase difference. We analyze various features in this model through simulations and obtain an expression for the $\cal{DC}$ current via a novel perturbative treatment.