Symmetry Breaking of Current Response in Disordered Exclusion Processes

Abstract: The bias-reversal symmetry -- where reversing an external bias inverts the current without changing its magnitude -- is a hallmark of nonequilibrium transport. While this property holds in homogeneous systems such as the asymmetric simple exclusion process, how disorder and its interplay with particle interactions affect this symmetry has remained unclear. Here, we establish a general criterion showing that the bias-reversal symmetry holds if and only if the local left-right bond-bias ratio is spatially uniform. Analytical and numerical analyses reveal that bond disorder preserves the symmetry beyond linear response, whereas site disorder breaks it through an interplay between heterogeneity and particle interactions. Our results demonstrate how environmental disorder and interparticle interactions cooperate to generate asymmetric transport, thereby providing a unified theoretical framework relevant to transport through biological and artificial nanochannels.