Persistent rotation of particles driven by non-inertial Brownian motion
The unidirectional spontaneous rotation of particles caused by Brownian motion rectified by the Coriolis force is reported. Fine magnetic particles dispersed in a revolving liquid were observed using the Barnett effect, and we found that the particles rotated much faster than the liquid. The observed spontaneous extra rotation is attributed to the breaking of the time-reversal symmetry of the Coriolis force, which rectified the random Brownian motion affected by viscosity. Our model considering molecular fluctuations in the medium reproduced the experiments well. The present results also suggest that all objects floating in fluids on Earth rotate spontaneously because of fluctuations.
Authors
- Hiroyuki Chudo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9208-2263)
- Michiyasu Mori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2065-0150)
- Eiji Saitoh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2675-0718)
- Mamoru Matsuo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1303-7614)
- Masaki Imai
- Sadamichi Maekawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4237-7741)
- Maki Umeda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3509-3337)
- Nana Sato
Institutions
- Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JP)
- Tohoku University (JP)
- Advanced Institute of Materials Science (JP)
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences (CN)
- RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (JP)
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Applied Physics Letters
- Published
- 2026-03-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0320016
- Primary Topic
- Micro and Nano Robotics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00