01-Jan-2009, Chemical Physics Seminars, Tel Aviv University <br>
<b>Directed flow in nonadiabatic stochastic pumps</b><br>
Dr. Saar Rahav, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA<br>

<i>Abstract:</i><br>

Molecular machines are molecules that perform specific tasks. They are
ubiquitous in biological systems. Remarkably, it is now feasible to
construct and manipulate artificial molecular machines.

The operation of a stochastic pump, molecular machine driven by variation
of its parameters, is analyzed theoretically. We derive a formula for the
integrated flow from one configuration to another. We show that for
adiabatic variation of the parameters this probability current is given by
a geometric expression. We also find a surprising no pumping theorem for
cyclic processes in thermally activated systems.