A homogenization approach to flashing ratchets (Q628701)

The authors study the asymptotic behavior as \(\epsilon\) goes to zero for the unique solution to a Fokker-Planck equation with slow diffusion and order-one space-time periodic potential (drift term). In this context, \(\epsilon\) is a suitable scale parameter. The driving question here is: For which space-time periodic potential does the \(\epsilon\)-dependent PDE exhibit the (molecular) motor effect as \(\epsilon\to 0\)? The ingredients of the proof that is behind the answer to this question include the WKB method and techniques of viscosity solutions for the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, which defines the effective Hamiltonian (as \(\epsilon\to 0\)).