Eur. Phys. J. E (2010) 32: 191-208
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2010-10603-6

Regular Article

Active transport and cluster formation on 2D networks

Fachrichtung Theoretische Physik, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken, Germany

^* e-mail: pg@thp.uni-koeln.de

Received: 24 April 2009
Accepted: 4 May 2010
Published online: 17 June 2010

Abstract

We introduce a model for active transport on inhomogeneous networks embedded in a diffusive environment which is motivated by vesicular transport on actin filaments. In the presence of a hard-core interaction, particle clusters are observed that exhibit an algebraically decaying distribution in a large parameter regime, indicating the existence of clusters on all scales. The scale-free behavior can be understood by a mechanism promoting preferential attachment of particles to large clusters. The results are compared with a diffusion-limited aggregation model and active transport on a regular network. For both models we observe aggregation of particles to clusters which are characterized by a finite size scale if the relevant time scales and particle densities are considered.