Discrete and continuous ratchets: From coin toss to molecular motor (Q1599859)

In many molecular-scale systems directed motion (or ratchet-like behavior) is a consequence of diffusion mediated transport. This is believed to be the case especially for motor proteins responsible for intracellular traffic in eukarya, where the Brownian motor serves as a paradigm. The Parrondo Paradox is a pair of coin toss games, each of which is fair, or even losing, but become winning with a schedule of playing them in alternation. It has been proposed as a discrete analogue of the Brownian motor. In this paper the authors examine the relationship between these two systems. They discover a class of Parrondo games with unusual ratchet-like behavior and for which diffusion plays a fundamentally different role than it does in the Brownian motor.