Activated Drift Motion of a Classical Particle With a Dynamical Pinning Effect

Abstract

A one dimensional trap model for a thermally activated classical particle is introduced to simulate driven dynamics in presence of "ageing" effects. The depth of each trap increases with the time elapsed since the particle has fallen into it. The consequences of this dynamical pinning are studied, and velocity-force characteristics are numerically obtained. A special attention is paid to the situation where the particle is pulled with a spring to ensure a finite average velocity. In the low velocity regime, the presence of a broad distribution of trapping times leads to suppression of linear response, replaced by a threshold or by sublinear dynamics. A regime of strong fluctuations is obtained when the particle is driven at intermediate velocities.