Low-temperature operational regime of an adiabatic Brownian motor

The motion of a Brownian particle in two cyclically-switching spatially-periodic asymmetric potentials with the cycle period longer than the relaxation time is considered. It is shown that at low temperatures a directed movement occurs in the case when the positions of the absolute maxima and minima of the two switching potentials alternate or an asymmetric potential is cyclically switched ON and OFF. The obtained results elucidate the role of diffusion processes and force effects arising from the potential switching in the operational mechanisms of Brownian motors. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.