Single-file diffusion in a multilayered channel

Ullrich Siems and Peter Nielaba PHYSICAL REVIEW E 98, 032127 (2018) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.98.032127

Abstract: We demonstrate that strongly repelling Brownian particles confined in two-dimensional microchannels with multiple layers show single-file diffusion. At long times the mean-square displacement (MSD) is proportional to t1/2, as in the one-dimensional case. On an intermediate timescale the MSD is further reduced. It scales with a minimal exponent that decreases with the number of layers in the channel. In the limit of infinite width of the channel, the MSD time evolution shows a crossover to a logarithmic time dependence.