Brownian motion and generalized Lifson-Jackson formula in quasi-periodic systems

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Yang, Sang, Sun, Juyuan, Guo, Guangcan, Gong, Ming
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866912343089217536
author Yang, Sang
Sun, Juyuan
Guo, Guangcan
Gong, Ming
author_facet Yang, Sang
Sun, Juyuan
Guo, Guangcan
Gong, Ming
contents Brownian motion in periodic potentials has been widely investigated in statistical physics and related interdisciplinary fields. In the overdamped regime, it has been well-known that the diffusion constant $D^*$ is given by the Lifson-Jackson (LJ) formula. With a tilted potential, this model can exhibit giant diffusion. In this work, we start from the basic argument that since any quasi-periodic potential can be approximated accurately using a periodic potential, this formula and the associated physics should also apply to the quasi-periodic potential after some proper redefinition. We derive $D^*$ from the Smoluchowski equation using the fact that its asymptotic solution is a product of a Boltzmann weight and a Gaussian envelope function. Then we analytically calculate $D^*$ in terms of Bessel functions. Finally, we study the giant diffusion with quasi-periodic potentials, generalize the corresponding formula to the condition with tilted potential under the same argument, and calculate $D^*$ analytically. This work generalizes the Brownian motion from periodic potentials to the much broader quasi-periodic potentials, which should have applications in interdisciplinary fields in physics, chemistry, engineering, and life sciences.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_16527
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Brownian motion and generalized Lifson-Jackson formula in quasi-periodic systems
Yang, Sang
Sun, Juyuan
Guo, Guangcan
Gong, Ming
Statistical Mechanics
Brownian motion in periodic potentials has been widely investigated in statistical physics and related interdisciplinary fields. In the overdamped regime, it has been well-known that the diffusion constant $D^*$ is given by the Lifson-Jackson (LJ) formula. With a tilted potential, this model can exhibit giant diffusion. In this work, we start from the basic argument that since any quasi-periodic potential can be approximated accurately using a periodic potential, this formula and the associated physics should also apply to the quasi-periodic potential after some proper redefinition. We derive $D^*$ from the Smoluchowski equation using the fact that its asymptotic solution is a product of a Boltzmann weight and a Gaussian envelope function. Then we analytically calculate $D^*$ in terms of Bessel functions. Finally, we study the giant diffusion with quasi-periodic potentials, generalize the corresponding formula to the condition with tilted potential under the same argument, and calculate $D^*$ analytically. This work generalizes the Brownian motion from periodic potentials to the much broader quasi-periodic potentials, which should have applications in interdisciplinary fields in physics, chemistry, engineering, and life sciences.
title Brownian motion and generalized Lifson-Jackson formula in quasi-periodic systems
topic Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.16527