A time-delayed feedback ratchet consisting of two Brownian particles interacting through the elastic spring is considered. The model describes the directed transport of coupled Brownian particles in an asymmetric two-well ratchet potential which can be calculated theoretically and implemented experimentally. We explore how the centre-of-mass velocity is affected by the time delay, natural length of the spring, amplitude strength, angular frequency, external force, and the structure of the potential. It is found that the enhancement of the current can be obtained by varying the coupling strength of the delayed feedback system. When the thermal fluctuation and the harmonic potential match appropriately, directed current evolves periodically with the natural length of the spring and can achieve a higher transport coherence. Moreover, the external force and the amplitude strength can enhance the directed transport of coupled Brownian particles under certain conditions. It is expected that the polymer of large biological molecules may demonstrate a variety of novel cooperative effects in real propelling devices.
We investigate the free energy relation for a system contacting with a non-Markovian heat bath and find that the validity of the relation sensitively depends on the non-Markovian memory effect, which is especially related to the initial preparation effect. This memory effect drives the statistical distribution of the system out of the initial preparation, even if the system starts from an equilibrium state. This leads to the violation of the free energy relation. A possible way of eliminating this memory effect is proposed.
In this review, we give a retrospect of the recent progress in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and thermodynamics in small dynamical systems. For systems with only a few number of particles, fluctuations and nonlinearity become significant and contribute to the nonequilibrium behaviors of the systems, hence the statistical properties and thermodynamics should be carefully studied. We review recent developments of this topic by starting from the Gallavotti–Cohen fluctuation theorem, and then to the Evans–Searles transient fluctuation theorem, Jarzynski free-energy equality, and the Crooks fluctuation relation. We also investigate the nonequilibrium free energy theorem for trajectories involving changes of the heat bath temperature and propose a generalized free-energy relation. It should be noticed that the non-Markovian property of the heat bath may lead to the violation of the free-energy relation.
Dynamics of a one-dimensional array of non-locally coupled Kuramoto phase oscillators with an external potential is studied.A four-cluster chimera state is observed for the moderate strength of the external potential.Different from the clustered chimera states studied before,the instantaneous frequencies of the oscillators in a synchronized cluster are different in the presence of the external potential.As the strength of the external potential increases,a bifurcation from the two-cluster chimera state to the four-cluster chimera states can be found.These phenomena are well predicted analytically with the help of the Ott–Antonsen ansatz.
