Competitive Brownian and Lévy walkers.

Population dynamics of individuals undergoing birth and death and diffusing by short- or long-range two-dimensional spatial excursions (Gaussian jumps or Lévy flights) is studied. Competitive interactions are considered in a global case, in which birth and death rates are influenced by all individuals in the system, and in a nonlocal but finite-range case in which interaction affects individuals in a neighborhood (we also address the noninteracting case). In the global case one single or few-cluster configurations are achieved with the spatial distribution of the bugs tied to the type of diffusion. In the Lévy case long tails appear for some properties characterizing the shape and dynamics of clusters. Under nonlocal finite-range interactions periodic patterns appear with periodicity set by the interaction range. This length acts as a cutoff limiting the influence of the long Lévy jumps, so that spatial configurations under the two types of diffusion become more similar. By dividing initially everyone into different families and following their descent it is possible to show that mixing of families and their competition is greatly influenced by the spatial dynamics.

Fractional Fokker-Planck subdiffusion in alternating force fields.

The fractional Fokker-Planck equation for subdiffusion in time-dependent force fields is derived from the underlying continuous time random walk. Its limitations are discussed and it is then applied to the study of subdiffusion under the influence of a time-periodic rectangular force. As a main result, we show that such a force does not affect the universal scaling relation between the anomalous current and diffusion when applied to the biased dynamics: in the long-time limit, subdiffusion current and anomalous diffusion are immune to the driving. This is in sharp contrast with the unbiased case when the subdiffusion coefficient can be strongly enhanced, i.e., a zero-frequency response to a periodic driving is present.

Dimer diffusion in a washboard potential.

The transport of a dimer, consisting of two Brownian particles bounded by a harmonic potential, moving on a periodic substrate is investigated both numerically and analytically. The mobility and diffusion of the dimer center of mass present distinct properties when compared with those of a monomer under the same transport conditions. Both the average current and the diffusion coefficient are found to be complicated nonmonotonic functions of the driving force. The influence of dimer equilibrium length, coupling strength, and damping constant on the dimer transport properties are also examined in detail.

Use and abuse of a fractional Fokker-Planck dynamics for time-dependent driving.

We investigate a subdiffusive, fractional Fokker-Planck dynamics occurring in time-varying potential landscapes and thereby disclose the failure of the fractional Fokker-Planck equation (FFPE) in its commonly used form when generalized in an ad hoc manner to time-dependent forces. A modified FFPE (MFFPE) is rigorously derived, being valid for a family of dichotomously alternating force fields. This MFFPE is numerically validated for a rectangular time-dependent force with zero average bias. For this case, subdiffusion is shown to become enhanced as compared to the force free case. We question, however, the existence of any physically valid FFPE for arbitrary varying time-dependent fields that differ from this dichotomous varying family.

Fractional Fokker-Planck dynamics: Numerical algorithm and simulations.

Anomalous transport in a tilted periodic potential is investigated numerically within the framework of the fractional Fokker-Planck dynamics via the underlying continuous-time random walk. An efficient numerical algorithm is developed which is applicable for an arbitrary potential. This algorithm is then applied to investigate the fractional current and the corresponding nonlinear mobility in different washboard potentials. Normal and fractional diffusion are compared through their time evolution of the probability density in state space. Moreover, we discuss the stationary probability density of the fractional current values.

Current and universal scaling in anomalous transport.

Anomalous transport in tilted periodic potentials is investigated within the framework of the fractional Fokker-Planck dynamics and the underlying continuous time random walk. The analytical solution for the stationary, anomalous current is obtained in closed form. We derive a universal scaling law for anomalous diffusion occurring in tilted periodic potentials. This scaling relation is corroborated with precise numerical studies covering wide parameter regimes and different shapes for the periodic potential, being either symmetric or ratchetlike.