We consider the thermal and athermal overdamped motion of particles in one-dimensional geometries where discrete internal degrees of freedom (spin) are coupled with the translational motion. Adding a driving velocity that depends on the time-dependent spin constitutes the simplest model of active particles (run-and-tumble processes) where the violation of the equipartition principle and of the Sutherland-Einstein relation can be studied in detail even when there is generalized reversibility. We give an example (with four spin values) where the irreversibility of the translational motion manifests itself only in higher-order (than two) time correlations. We derive a generalized telegraph equation as the Smoluchowski equation for the spatial density for an arbitrary number of spin values. We also investigate the Arrhenius exponential law for run-and-tumble particles; due to their activity the slope of the potential becomes important in contrast to the passive diffusion case and activity enhances the escape from a potential well (if that slope is high enough). Finally, in the absence of a driving velocity, the presence of internal currents such as in the chemistry of molecular motors may be transmitted to the translational motion and the internal activity is crucial for the direction of the emerging spatial current.

Canonical quantization of general relativity does not yield a unique quantum theory for gravity. This is in part due to operator ordering ambiguities. In this paper, we investigate the role of different operator orderings on the question of whether a big bang or big crunch singularity occurs. We do this in the context of the minisuperspace model of a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker universe with Brown-Kuchař dust. We find that for a certain class of operator orderings such a singularity is eliminated without having to impose boundary conditions.

We study various combinations of active diffusion with branching, as an extension of standard reaction-diffusion processes. We concentrate on the selection of the asymptotic wavefront speed for thermal run-and-tumble and for thermal active Brownian processes in general spatial dimensions. Comparing 1D active branching processes with a passive counterpart (which has the same effective diffusion constant and reproduction rate), we find that the active process has a smaller propagation speed. In higher dimensions, a similar comparison yields the opposite conclusion.

Because of disorder the current-field characteristic may show a first order phase transition as function of the field, at which the current jumps to zero when the driving exceeds a threshold. The discontinuity is caused by adding a finite correlation length in the disorder. At the same time the current may resurrect when the field is modulated in time, also discontinuously: a little shaking enables the current to jump up. Finally, in trapping models exclusion between particles postpones or even avoids the current from dying, while attraction may enhance it. We present simple models that illustrate those dynamical phase transitions in detail, and that allow full mathematical control.

We consider a simplified model of quantum gravity using a mini-superspace description of an isotropic and homogeneous universe with dust. We derive the corresponding Friedmann equations for the scale factor, which now contain a dependence on the wave function. We identify wave functions for which the quantum effects lead to a period of accelerated expansion that is in agreement with the apparent evolution of our universe, without introducing a cosmological constant.