Pseudo energy wells in active systems

Abstract

Active stabilization in systems with zero or negative stiffness is an essential element of a wide variety of biological processes. We study a prototypical example of this phenomenon at a micro-scale and show how active rigidity, interpreted as a formation of a pseudo-well in the effective energy landscape, can be generated in an overdamped ratchet-type stochastic system. We link the transition from negative to positive rigidity with correlations in the noise and show that subtle differences in out-of-equilibrium driving may compromise the emergence of a pseudo-well.