arXiv subjects

Olivier Bénichou

Publications and source records attributed to Olivier Bénichou.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Optimized Diffusion of Run-and-Tumble Particles in Crowded Environments

We study the transport of self-propelled particles in dynamic complex environments. To obtain exact results, we introduce a model of run-and-tumble particles (RTPs) moving in discrete time on a $d$-dimensional cubic lattice in the presence of diffusing hard core obstacles. We derive an explicit expression for the diffusivity of the RTP, which is exact in the limit of low density of fixed obstacles. To do so, we introduce a generalization of Kac's theorem on the mean return times of Markov processes, which we expect to be relevant for a large class of lattice gas problems. Our results show the diffusivity of RTPs to be nonmonotonic in the tumbling probability for low enough obstacle mobility. These results prove the potential for optimization of the transport of RTPs in crowded and disordered environments with applications to motile artificial and biological systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Nonequilibrium fluctuations and enhanced diffusion of a driven particle in a dense environment

We study the diffusion of a tracer particle driven out-of-equilibrium by an external force and traveling in a dense environment of arbitrary density. The system evolves on a discrete lattice and its stochastic dynamics is described by a master equation. Relying on a decoupling approximation that goes beyond the naive mean-field treatment of the problem, we calculate the fluctuations of the position of the tracer around its mean value on a lattice of arbitrary dimension, and with different boundary conditions. We reveal intrinsically nonequilibrium effects, such as enhanced diffusivity of the tracer induced both by the crowding interactions and the external driving. We finally consider the high-density and low-density limits of the model and show that our approximation scheme becomes exact in these limits.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Unbinding transition of probes in single-file systems

Single-file transport, arising in quasi one-dimensional geometries where particles cannot pass each other, is characterized by the anomalous dynamics of a probe, notably its response to an external force. In these systems, the motion of several probes submitted to different external forces, although relevant to mixtures of charged and neutral or active and passive objects, remains unexplored. Here, we determine how several probes respond to external forces. We rely on a hydrodynamic description of the symmetric exclusion process to obtain exact analytical results at long times. We show that the probes can either move as a whole, or separate into two groups moving away from each other. In between the two regimes, they separate with a different dynamical exponent, as $t^{1/4}$. This unbinding transition also occurs in several continuous single-file systems and is expected to be observable.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Order-disorder transitions in lattice gases with annealed reactive constraints

We study equilibrium properties of catalytically-activated $A + A \to \oslash$ reactions taking place on a lattice of adsorption sites. The particles undergo continuous exchanges with a reservoir maintained at a constant chemical potential $μ$ and react when they appear at the neighbouring sites, provided that some reactive conditions are fulfilled. We model the latter in two different ways: In the Model I some fraction $p$ of the {\em bonds} connecting neighbouring sites possesses special catalytic properties such that any two $A$s appearing on the sites connected by such a bond instantaneously react and desorb. In the Model II some fraction $p$ of the adsorption {\em sites} possesses such properties and neighbouring particles react if at least one of them resides on a catalytic site. For the case of \textit{annealed} disorder in the distribution of the catalyst, which is tantamount to the situation when the reaction may take place at any point on the lattice but happens with a finite probability $p$, we provide an exact solution for both models for the interior of an infinitely large Cayley tree - the so-called Bethe lattice. We show that both models exhibit a rich critical behaviour: For the annealed Model I it is characterised by a transition into an ordered state and a re-entrant transition into a disordered phase, which both are continuous. For the annealed Model II, which represents a rather exotic model of statistical mechanics in which interactions of any particle with its environment have a peculiar Boolean form, the transition to an ordered state is always continuous, while the re-entrant transition into the disordered phase may be either continuous or discontinuous, depending on the value of $p$.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

$N$-tag Probability Law of the Symmetric Exclusion Process

The Symmetric Exclusion Process (SEP), in which particles hop symmetrically on a discrete line with hard-core constraints, is a paradigmatic model of subdiffusion in confined systems. This anomalous behavior is a direct consequence of strong spatial correlations induced by the requirement that the particles cannot overtake each other. Even if this fact has been recognised qualitatively for a long time, up to now there is no full quantitative determination of these correlations. Here we study the joint probability distribution of an arbitrary number of tagged particles in the SEP. We determine analytically the large time limit of all cumulants for an arbitrary density of particles, and their full dynamics in the high density limit. In this limit, we unveil a universal scaling form shared by the cumulants and obtain the time-dependent large deviation function of the problem.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Universal Long Ranged Correlations in Driven Binary Mixtures

When two populations of "particles" move in opposite directions, like oppositely charged colloids under an electric field or intersecting flows of pedestrians, they can move collectively, forming lanes along their direction of motion. The nature of this "laning transition" is still being debated and, in particular, the pair correlation functions, which are the key observables to quantify this phenomenon, have not been characterized yet. Here, we determine the correlations using an analytical approach based on a linearization of the stochastic equations for the density fields, which is valid for dense systems of soft particles. We find that the correlations decay algebraically along the direction of motion, and have a self-similar exponential profile in the transverse direction. Brownian dynamics simulations confirm our theoretical predictions and show that they also hold beyond the validity range of our analytical approach, pointing to a universal behavior.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Non-Markovian closure kinetics of flexible polymers with hydrodynamic interactions

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the closure kinetics of a polymer with hydrodynamic interactions. This analysis, which takes into account the non-Markovian dynamics of the end-to-end vector and relies on the preaveraging of the mobility tensor (Zimm dynamics), is shown to reproduce very accurately the results of numerical simulations of the complete non linear dynamics. It is found that Markovian treatments, based on a Wilemski-Fixman approximation, significantly overestimate cyclization times (up to a factor 2), showing the importance of memory effects in the dynamics. In addition, this analysis provides scaling laws of the mean first cyclization time (MFCT) with the polymer size $N$ and capture radius $b$, which are identical in both Markovian and non-Markovian approaches. In particular, it is found that the scaling of the MFCT for large $N$ is given by $T\sim N^{3/2}\ln (N/b^2)$, which differs from the case of the Rouse dynamics where $T\sim N^{2}$. The extension to the case of the reaction kinetics of a monomer of a Zimm polymer with an external target in a confined volume is also presented.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Mean first-passage time of an anisotropic diffusive searcher

We consider an anisotropic needle-like Brownian particle with nematic symmetry confined in a $2D$ domain. For this system, the coupling of translational and rotational diffusion makes the process ${\bf x} (t)$ of the positions of the particle non Markovian. Using scaling arguments, a Gaussian approximation and numerical methods, we determine the mean first passage time $\langle\mathbf{T}\rangle$ of the particle to a target of radius $a$ and show in particular that $\langle\mathbf{T}\rangle \sim a^{-1/2}$ for $a\to 0$, in contrast with the classical logarithmic divergence obtained in the case of an isotropic $2D$ Brownian particle.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Optimal search strategies of run-and-tumble walks

The run-and-tumble walk, consisting in randomly reoriented ballistic excursions, models phenomena ranging from gas kinetics to bacteria motility. We evaluate the mean time required for this walk to find a fixed target within a 2D or 3D spherical confinement. We find that the mean search time admits a minimum as a function of the mean run duration for various types of boundary conditions and run duration distributions (exponential, power-law, deterministic). Our result stands in sharp contrast to the pure ballistic motion, which is predicted to be the optimal search strategy in the case of Poisson distributed targets.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Propagators of random walks on comb lattices of arbitrary dimension

We study diffusion on comb lattices of arbitrary dimension. Relying on the loopless structure of these lattices and using first-passage properties, we obtain exact and explicit formulae for the Laplace transforms of the propagators associated to nearest-neighbour random walks in both cases where either the first or the last point of the random walk is on the backbone of the lattice, and where the two extremities are arbitrarily chosen. As an application, we compute the mean-square displacement of a random walker on a comb of arbitrary dimension. We also propose an alternative and consistent approach of the problem using a master equation description, and obtain simple and generic expressions of the propagators. This method is more general and is extended to study the propagators of random walks on more complex comb-like structures. In particular, we study the case of a two-dimensional comb lattice with teeth of finite length.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Contact Kinetics in Fractal Macromolecules

We consider the kinetics of first contact between two monomers of the same macromolecule. Relying on a fractal description of the macromolecule, we develop an analytical method to compute the Mean First Contact Time (MFCT) for various molecular sizes. In our theoretical description, the non-Markovian feature of monomer motion, arising from the interactions with the other monomers, is captured by accounting for the non-equilibrium conformations of the macromolecule at the very instant of first contact. This analysis reveals a simple scaling relation for the MFCT between two monomers, which involves only their equilibrium distance and the spectral dimension of the macromolecule, independently of its microscopic details. Our theoretical predictions are in excellent agreement with numerical stochastic simulations.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2015

Distribution of the position of a driven tracer in a hardcore lattice gas

We study the position of a biased tracer particle (TP) in a bath of hardcore particles moving on a lattice of arbitrary dimension and in contact with a reservoir. Starting from the master equation satisfied by the joint probability of the TP position and the bath configuration and resorting to a mean-field-type approximation, we presented a computation of the fluctuations of the TP position in a previous publication [Phys. Rev. E \textbf{87}, 032164 (2013)]. Counterintuitively, on a one-dimensional lattice, the diffusion coefficient of the TP was shown to be a non-monotonic function of the density of bath particles, and reaches a maximum for a nonzero value of the density. Here, we: (i) give the details of this computation and offer a physical insight into the understanding of the non-monotonicity of the diffusion coefficient; (ii) extend the mean-field-type approximation to decouple higher-order correlation functions, and obtain the evolution equation satisfied by the cumulant generating function of the position of the TP, valid in any space dimension. In the particular case of a one-dimensional lattice, we solve this equation and obtain the probability distribution of the TP position. We show that the position rescaled by its fluctuations is asymptotically distributed accordingly to a Gaussian distribution in the long-time limit.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Survival probability of a Brownian motion in a planar wedge of arbitrary angle

We study the survival probability and the first-passage time distribution for a Brownian motion in a planar wedge with infinite absorbing edges. We generalize existing results obtained for wedge angles of the form $π/n$ with $n$ a positive integer to arbitrary angles, which in particular cover the case of obtuse angles. We give explicit and simple expressions of the survival probability and the first-passage time distribution in which the difference between an arbitrary angle and a submultiple of $π$ is contained in three additional terms. As an application, we obtain the short time development of the survival probability in a wedge of arbitrary angle.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

Mean cover time of one-dimensional persistent random walks

The cover time is defined as the time needed for a random walker to visit every site of a confined domain. Here, we focus on persistent random walks, which provide a minimal model of random walks with short range memory. We derive the exact expression of the mean cover time of a one-dimensional lattice by such a persistent random walk, both for periodic and reflecting boundary conditions.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

Generalized Langevin equations for a driven tracer in dense soft colloids: construction and applications

We describe a tracer in a bath of soft Brownian colloids by a particle coupled to the density field of the other bath particles. From the Dean equation, we derive an exact equation for the evolution of the whole system, and show that the density field evolution can be linearized in the limit of a dense bath. This linearized Dean equation with a tracer taken apart is validated by the reproduction of previous results on the mean-field liquid structure and transport properties. Then, the tracer is submitted to an external force and we compute the density profile around it, its mobility and its diffusion coefficient. Our results exhibit effects such as bias enhanced diffusion that are very similar to those observed in the opposite limit of a hard core lattice gas, indicating the robustness of these effects. Our predictions are successfully tested against molecular dynamics simulations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2013

Geometry-induced superdiffusion in driven crowded systems

Recent Molecular Dynamics simulations of glass-forming liquids revealed superdiffusive fluctuations associated with the position of a tracer particle (TP) driven by an external force. Such anomalous response, whose mechanism remains elusive, has been observed up to now only in systems close to their glass transition, suggesting that this could be one of its hallmarks. Here, we show that the presence of superdiffusion is in actual fact much more general, provided that the system is crowded and geometrically confined. We present and solve analytically a minimal model consisting of a driven TP in a dense, crowded medium in which the motion of particles is mediated by the diffusion of packing defects, called vacancies. For such non glass-forming systems, our analysis predicts a long-lived superdiffusion which ultimately crosses over to giant diffusive behavior. We find that this trait is present in confined geometries, for example long capillaries and stripes, and emerges as a universal response of crowded environments to an external force. These findings are confirmed by numerical simulations of systems as varied as lattice-gases, dense liquids and granular fluids.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2012

Molecular diffusion between walls with adsorption and desorption

The time dependency of the diffusion coefficient of particles in porous media is an efficient probe of their geometry. The analysis of this quantity, measured e.g. by nuclear magnetic resonance (PGSE-NMR), can provide rich information pertaining to porosity, pore size distribution, permeability and surface-to-volume ratio of porous materials. Nevertheless, in numerous if not all practical situations, transport is confined by walls where adsorption and desorption processes may occur. In this article, we derive explicitly the expression of the time-dependent diffusion coefficient between two confining walls in the presence of adsorption and desorption. We show that they strongly modify the time-dependency of the diffusion coefficient, even in this simple geometry. We finally propose several applications, from sorption rates measurements to the use as a reference for numerical implementations for more complex geometries.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2012

Taylor Dispersion with Adsorption and Desorption

We use a stochastic approach to show how Taylor dispersion is affected by kinetic processes of adsorption and desorption onto surfaces. A general theory is developed, from which we derive explicitly the dispersion coefficients of canonical examples like Poiseuille flows in planar and cylindrical geometries, both in constant and sinusoidal velocity fields. These results open the way for the measurement of adsorption and desorption rate constants using stationary flows and molecular sorting using the stochastic resonance of the adsorption and desorption processes with the oscillatory velocity field.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗