Absolute negative mobility in a one-dimensional overdamped system

• Absolute negative mobility (ANM) phenomenon was found in the system.
• The system is overdamped and not driven by a time-dependent periodic force.
• The ANM phenomenon in the system was not reported by other investigators.
• The ANM phenomenon is induced by an additive trichotomous noise.

A one-dimensional overdamped system consisting of a symmetric periodic potential, a constant bias force and a trichotomous noise was investigated. In the frame of master equations, we derived analytical expression of its current. By means of numerical calculations, the results indicate that the current first increases, then decreases and finally increases with the bias force increasing, i.e., an absolute negative mobility (ANM) phenomenon. Our further investigations presented dependence of the ANM phenomenon on parameters of the noise. Its intrinsic physical mechanism was also open up, and a minimal model with ANM phenomenon is demonstrated.