Enhancement of mobility in an interacting colloidal system under feedback control.

Feedback control schemes are a promising way to manipulate transport properties of driven colloidal suspensions. In the present article, we suggest a feedback scheme to enhance the collective transport of colloidal particles with repulsive interactions through a one-dimensional tilted washboard potential. The control is modeled by a harmonic confining potential, mimicking an optical "trap," with the center of this trap moving with the (instantaneous) mean particle position.

Waiting time distribution for continuous stochastic systems.

The waiting time distribution (WTD) is a common tool for analyzing discrete stochastic processes in classical and quantum systems. However, there are many physical examples where the dynamics is continuous and only approximately discrete, or where it is favourable to discuss the dynamics on a discretized and a continuous level in parallel. An example is the hindered motion of particles through potential landscapes with barriers.

Delay-induced transport in a rocking ratchet under feedback control.

Based on the Fokker-Planck equation we investigate the transport of an overdamped colloidal particle in a static, asymmetric periodic potential supplemented by a time-dependent, delayed feedback force, F(fc). For a given time t, F(fc) depends on the status of the system at a previous time t-τ(D), with τ(D) being a delay time, specifically on the delayed mean particle displacement (relative to some "switching position"). For nonzero delay times F(fc)(t) develops nearly regular oscillations, generating a net current in the system.

Minimal model for short-time diffusion in periodic potentials.

We investigate the dynamics of a single, overdamped colloidal particle, which is driven by a constant force through a one-dimensional periodic potential. We focus on systems with large barrier heights where the lowest-order cumulants of the density field, that is, average position and the mean-squared displacement, show nontrivial (nondiffusive) short-time behavior characterized by the appearance of plateaus. We demonstrate that this "cage-like" dynamics can be well described by a discretized master equation model involving two states (related to two positions) within each potential valley.