Two-temperature Brownian dynamics of a particle in a confining potential

Abstract

We consider the two-dimensional motion of a particle in a confining potential, subject to Brownian orthogonal forces associated with two different temperatures. Exact solutions are obtained for an asymmetric harmonic potential in the overdamped and underdamped regimes. For more general confining potentials, a perturbative approach shows that the stationary state exhibits some universal properties. The nonequilibrium stationary state is characterized with a nonzero orthoradial mean current, corresponding to a global rotation of the particle around the center. The rotation is due to two broken symmetries: two different temperatures and a mismatch between the principal axes of the confining asymmetric potential and the temperature axes. We confirm our predictions by performing a Brownian dynamics simulation. Finally, we propose to observe this effect on a laser-cooled atomic gas.