D. Kinderlehrer
Carnegie Mellon
Remarks about diffusion mediated transport
Diffusion mediated transport is responsible for the operation of many
molecular level systems. These include some liquid crystal and lipid
bilayer systems, and, especially, the motor proteins responsible for
eukaryotic cellular traffic. All of these systems are extremely complex.
Here we address the basic elements of transport in an environment of
diffusion concentrating on the flashing rachet. Two opposing tendencies
must be reconciled: two opposing tendencies:
diffusion, which spreads particles uniformly through a medium
and transport, which concentrates particles at some special
sites. We illustrate how new weak topology techniques permit us to
characterize the properties of this process in terms of a Markov chain.
This is joint work with Michal Kowalczyk.
