https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2008-00629-7
Diffusion in different models of active Brownian motion
Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Straße 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany
Corresponding author: benji@pks.mpg.de
Active Brownian particles (ABP) have served as phenomenological models of self-propelled motion in biology. We study the effective diffusion coefficient of two one-dimensional ABP models (simplified depot model and Rayleigh-Helmholtz model) differing in their nonlinear friction functions. Depending on the choice of the friction function the diffusion coefficient does or does not attain a minimum as a function of noise intensity. We furthermore discuss the case of an additional bias breaking the left-right symmetry of the system. We show that this bias induces a drift and that it generally reduces the diffusion coefficient. For a finite range of values of the bias, both models can exhibit a maximum in the diffusion coefficient vs. noise intensity.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2008
