Physics Commons^™

On The Stochastic Behavior Of Brownian Particles In Potential Wells, As Observed With Optical Traps, Ross Paul Brody

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When the random fluctuations of a system are viewed as energetic fluctuations, many of the unique qualities of the system become irrelevant to the fundamental behavior. Consequently, many stochastic processes are fundamentally identical and are treated mathematically as such. For this reason the study of colloidal particles in aqueous solution has been invaluable to investigations of biologically relevant stochastic processes. This work addresses the motion of a Brownian particle, in a potential well, whose random fluctuations are described by a Gaussian-Markov random variable. By performing optical trapping experiments on micron sized, non-interacting, latex spheres in aqueous solution we have shown …