Ratchet universality in coupled dissipative oscillators without external bias

Abstract

Directed ratchet transport is generally observed in nonautonomous systems as a result of the interplay of nonlinearity, symmetry breaking, and nonequilibrium fluctuations. Here we demonstrate that ratchet dynamics can appear in significant transporting degrees of freedom of dissipative coupled systems without external bias due to unidirectional coupling of oscillatory degrees of freedom (which are also nonbiasing in any direction), while optimal enhancement of directed ratchet transport occurs when the initial conditions and parameters of such ratcheting degrees of freedom are suitably chosen as predicted by the theory of ratchet universality. The simple case of linear oscillatory degrees of freedom is discussed in detail, and numerical experiments are described which confirm all the theoretical predictions, including the dependence of current (velocity) reversals on the initial conditions and the ratcheting degrees-of-freedom parameters. This autonomous ratchet scenario could be exploited technologically, for instance, in the context of noncontact, rack-and-pinion type, nanoscale setups with coupling from the lateral Casimir force, and is relevant for studies of molecular motors in the biological realm.