Condensed Matter Seminar: Dispersion in confined and fluctuating systems

I will discuss some recent work on the effective transport properties, the effective diffusion constant and late time drifts, in confined systems. In particular I will address diffusion in channel like systems which are relevant for micro-fluidic and biological systems. Geometrical features for time independent geometries can lead to a slowing down of dispersion due to entropic trapping effects and I will present some improvements on the classic Fick-Jacobs approximation for these systems. In systems where the particle can be absorbed onto the surrounding surfaces I will also discuss the surprising fact that being stuck to a surface where diffusion is slower than in the bulk can actually speed up over all dispersion.

Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies