Particle transport in space-periodic potentials in underdamped systems

We consider the motion of an underdamped Brownian particle in a tilted periodic potential in a wide temperature range. Based on the previous data and the new simulation results we show that the underdamped motion of particles in space-periodic potentials can be considered as overdamped motion in the velocity space in the effective double-well potential. Simple analytic expressions for the particle mobility and diffusion coefficient are derived with the use of the presented model. These accurately match numerical simulation results. Copyright EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014