Deterministic model of battery, uphill currents, and nonequilibrium phase transitions

We consider point particles in a table made of two circular cavities connected by two rectangular channels, forming a closed loop under periodic boundary conditions. In the first channel, a bounce-back mechanism acts when the number of particles flowing in one direction exceeds a given threshold T. In that case, the particles invert their horizontal velocity, as if colliding with vertical walls. The second channel is divided in two halves parallel to the first but located in the opposite sides of the cavities. In the second channel, motion is free. We show that, suitably tuning the sizes of cavities of the channels and of T, nonequilibrium phase transitions take place in the N -> infinity limit. This induces a stationary current in the circuit, thus modeling a kind of battery, although our model is deterministic, conservative, and time reversal invariant.

Automated summary

The study investigates the motion of point particles on a table composed of two circular cavities and two rectangular channels, showing that nonequilibrium phase transitions occur under certain conditions and result in a stable current in the circuit as N approaches infinity.