Engines at molecular scales

Abstract

In recent literature there has been a lot of interest in the phenomena of noise induced transport in the absence of an average bias occurring in spatially periodic systems far from equilibrium. One of the main motivations in this area is to understand the mechanism behind the operation of biological motors at molecular scale. These molecular motors convert chemical energy available during the hydrolysis of ATP into mechanical motion to transport cargo and vesicles in living cells with very high reliability, adaptability and efficiency in a very noisy environment. The basic principle behind such a motion, namely the Brownian ratchet principle, has applications in nanotechnology as novel nanoparticle separation devices. Also, the mechanism of ratchet operation finds applications in game theory. Here, we briefly focus on the physical concepts underlying the constructive role of noise in assisting transport at a molecular level. The nature of particle currents, the energetic efficiency of these motors, the entropy production in these systems and the phenomenon of resonance/coherence are discussed.