Uphill Drift in the Absence of Current in Single-File Diffusion

Single-file diffusion is a paradigmatic model for the transport of Brownian colloidal particles in narrow one-dimensional channels, such as those found in certain porous media, where the particles cannot cross each other. We consider a system where a different external uniform potential is present to the right and left of an origin. For example, this is the case when two channels meeting at the origin have different radii. In equilibrium, the chemical potential of the particles are equal, the density is thus lower in the region with the higher potential, and by definition there is no net current in the system. Remarkably, a single-file tracer particle initially located at the origin, with position denoted by Y(t), exhibits an average uphill drift toward the region of highest potential. This drift has the late time behavior ⟨Y(t)⟩=Ct^{1/4}, where the prefactor C depends on the initial particle arrangement. This surprising result is shown analytically by computing the first two moments of Y(t) through a simple and physically illuminating method, and also via extensive numerical simulations.