Hydrodynamics and the fluctuation theorem

The fluctuation theorem is a pivotal result of statistical physics. It quantifies the probability of observing fluctuations which are in violation of the second law of thermodynamics. More specifically, it quantifies the ratio of the probabilities of observing entropy-producing and entropy-consuming fluctuations measured over a finite volume and time span in terms of the rate of entropy production in the system, the measurement volume, and time. We study the fluctuation theorem in computer simulations of planar shear flow. The simulations are performed by employing the method of multiparticle collision dynamics, which captures both thermal fluctuations and hydrodynamic interactions. The main outcome of our analysis is that the fluctuation theorem is verified at any averaging time provided that the measurement volume exhibits a specific dependence on a hydrodynamic time scale.     

Kinesin and the Crooks fluctuation theorem

The thermal efficiency of the kinesin cycle at stalling is presently a matter of some debate, with published predictions ranging from 0 [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 158102 (2007); Phys. Rev. E 78, 011915 (2008)] to 100% [in Molecular Motors, edited by M. Schliwa (Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim (2003), p. 207]. In this note we attemp to clarify the issues involved. We also find an upper bound on the kinesin efficiency by constructing an ideal kinesin cycle to which the real cycle may be compared. The ideal cycle has a thermal efficiency of less than one, and the real one is less efficient than the ideal one always, in compliance with Carnot’s theorem.     

Characterizing plastic depinning dynamics with the fluctuation theorem

We demonstrate that the fluctuation theorem can be used to characterize plastic flow phases in collectively interacting particle assemblies driven over quenched disorder when strong fluctuations and crackling noise with 1/f ^α character occur. By measuring the frequency of entropy-destroying trajectories and the diffusivity near the threshold for motion, we map out the different dynamic phases and demonstrate that the fluctuation theorem holds in the strongly fluctuating plastic flow regime which was previously shown to be chaotic. For different driving rates and disorder strength, we find that it is possible to define an effective temperature which decreases with increasing drive, as expected for this type of system. When the size of the pinning sites is large, we identify specific regimes where the fluctuation theorem holds only at long times due to an excess of negative entropy events that occur when particles undergo circular motions within the traps. We discuss how the fluctuation theorem could be applied to plastic flow in other driven nonthermal systems with quenched disorder such as superconducting vortices, magnetic domain walls, Coulomb glasses, and earthquake models.     

Work fluctuation theorem for a granular motor

We apply kinetic theory and numerical simulation to the study of the fluctuation theorem for the work performed by an asymmetric piston immersed in a bath of gas particles. The symmetry function in the Brownian limit is predicted using a Langevin approach and is shown to be consistent with the numerical simulations.     

Non-equilibrium thermodynamic potential and flux fluctuation theorem

A flux fluctuation theorem proposed recently [Seitaridou, et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 111 (2007) 2288] on the relative probability of direct and reverse diffusion fluxes in a non-equilibrium steady state is related here to a non-equilibrium thermodynamic potential used in extended irreversible thermodynamics. This connection allows one to provide a new derivation of the theorem, which complements the previous one, to generalize it to other fluxes, and illustrates the thermodynamic relevance of this theorem.     

Extension of the spin-statistics theorem to nonlocal fields

A new and more general derivation of the connection between spin and statistics that is applicable to nonlocal quantum fields with arbitrarily singular ultraviolet behavior is proposed. The derivation employs the concept of the analytical wave front of a distribution and makes it possible to characterize precisely the admissible degree of breakdown of locality for which there exists in the theory a Klein transformation which reduces the fields to normal commutation relations. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 8, 586–591 (25 April 1998)     

Extension of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem to non-equilibrium systems

The fluctuation-dissipation theorem is generalized to the case of nonequilibrium (albeit in a stable steady state) systems. The relationship between the correlation function of the current fluctuations and the average energy absorbed by the system as a consequence of dissipation is used. For a nonequilibrium classical system, the responce function is connected with the correlation function in which the averaging is over the derivative of the energy distribution function. Using the spectrum of the electromagnetic fluctuations, inverting the fluctuation-dissipation relation one can find the permittivity of the medium.     

Extension of the GHJW theorem for operator ensembles

The Gisin-Hughston-Jozsa-Wootters theorem plays an important role in analyzing various theories about quantum information, quantum communication, and quantum cryptography. It means that any purifications on the extended system which yield indistinguishable state ensembles on their subsystem should have a specific local unitary relation. In this Letter, we show that the local relation is also established even when the indistinguishability of state ensembles is extended to that of operator ensembles.     

Power injected in dissipative systems and the fluctuation theorem

We consider three examples of dissipative dynamical systems involving many degrees of freedom, driven far from equilibrium by a constant or time dependent forcing. We study the statistical properties of the injected and dissipated power as well as the fluctuations of the total energy of these systems. The three systems under consideration are: a shell model of turbulence, a gas of hard spheres colliding inelastically and excited by a vibrating piston, and a Burridge-Knopoff spring-block model. Although they involve different types of forcing and dissipation, we show that the statistics of the injected power obey the “fluctuation theorem" demonstrated in the case of time reversible dissipative systems maintained at constant total energy, or in the case of some stochastic processes. Although this may be only a consequence of the theory of large deviations, this allows a possible definition of “temperature" for a dissipative system out of equilibrium. We consider how this “temperature" scales with the energy and the number of degrees of freedom in the different systems under consideration. Received 26 June 2000 and Received in final form 24 October 2000     

Experimental studies of the transient fluctuation theorem using liquid crystals

In a thermodynamical process, the dissipation or production of entropy can only be positive or zero, according to the second law of thermodynamics. However, the laws of thermodynamics are applicable to large systems in the thermodynamic limit. Recently a fluctuation theorem, known as the transient fluctuation theorem (TFT), which generalizes the second law of thermodynamics to small systems has been proposed. This theorem has been tested in small systems such as a colloidal particle in an optical trap. We report for the first time an analogous experimental study of TFT in a spatially extended system using liquid crystals.      

Fluidized granular medium as an instance of the fluctuation theorem

We study the statistics of the power flux into a collection of inelastic beads maintained in a fluidized steady state by external mechanical driving. The power shows large fluctuations, including frequent large negative fluctuations, about its average value. The relative probabilities of positive and negative fluctuations in the power flux are in close accord with the fluctuation theorem of Gallavotti and Cohen, even at time scales shorter than those required by the theorem. We also compare an effective temperature that emerges from this analysis to the kinetic granular temperature.     

Irreversibility and fluctuation theorem in stationary time series

The relative entropy between the joint probability distribution of backward and forward sequences is used to quantify time asymmetry (or irreversibility) for stationary time series. The parallel with the thermodynamic theory of nonequilibrium steady states allows us to link the degree of asymmetry in the time signal with the distance from equilibrium and the lack of detailed balance among its states. We study the statistics of time asymmetry in terms of the fluctuation theorem, showing that this type of relationship derives from simple general symmetries valid for any stationary time series.     

A fluctuation theorem for Floquet quantum master equations

We present a fluctuation theorem for Floquet quantum master equations. This is a detailed version of the famous Gallavotti–Cohen theorem. In contrast to the latter theorem, which involves the probability distribution of the total heat current, the former involves the joint probability distribution of positive and negative heat currents and can be used to derive the latter. A quantum two-level system driven by a periodic external field is used to verify this result.     

Quantum work fluctuation theorem: Nonergodic Brownian motion case

The work fluctuations of a quantum Brownian particle driven by an external force in a general nonergodic heat bath are studied under a general initial state. The exact analytical expression of the work probability distribution function is derived. Results show the existence of a quantum asymptotic fluctuation theorem, which is in general not a direct generalization of its classical counterpart. The form of this theorem is dependent on the structure of the heat bath and the specified initial condition.     

A nonequilibrium temperature and fluctuation theorem for soft-mode turbulence

Non-thermal Brownian motion of a particle for soft-mode turbulence (SMT) in the electroconvection of a nematic liquid crystal has been experimentally investigated to clarify the statistical and thermodynamical aspects of SMT, using the Lagrangian picture in hydrodynamics. The effective temperature for SMT is obtained in two different ways based on the Einstein relation and the fluctuation theorem from the diffusion due to non-thermal particle fluctuations. The temperatures from the two methods agree well and exhibit a high value of 10⁶ K. They depend on the coarse-graining time, which reflects the anomalous properties of the macroscopic fluctuations for the SMT.     

Work fluctuation theorem for coloured noise driven open systems

We have studied work fluctuation behaviour in the presence of internal thermal noise as well as external coloured noise. The external coloured noise may have both Gaussian or non-Gaussian characteristics. We have investigated the dependence of position and work fluctuations on the properties of both the environments. For thermal noise driven systems, there is a maximum in the variation of mean square fluctuation of work (MSFW) as a function of damping strength at intermediate times, while at asymptotic long times MSFW monotonically increases in the same damping regime. But for external noise, MSFW monotonically decreases as a function of damping strength at intermediate times, whereas at long times it becomes almost independent of damping strength.Another interesting observation is that for the external noise driven systems, noise correlation time and damping strength have similar roles in the dynamics.     

非均匀各向同性线性介质中唯一性定理的证明

证明了非均匀各向同性线性介质中的唯一性定理．     

Extension of the electrokinematics theorem to the electromagnetic field and quantum mechanics

Summary A recent electrokinematics theorem leads to a general equation that, through an arbitrary irrotational fieldF, connects the motion of the electric-charge carriers, the internal potential and the dielectric properties of a physical system with its external currents, voltages and powers. It has been proved for quasi-electrostatic fields,i.e. when the vector potential may be disregarded, and on the basis of classical mechanics. Here the theorem is extended to any type of electromagnetic field and to quasi-relativistic quantum mechanics, in the case of many-particle systems for which, moreover, the probability current density is suitably computed. The new equation so obtained, throughF, connects the external currents again with the internal electric permittivity and the scalar potential, in the same way as in the preceding approach, and with the carrier velocity that, however, has to be computed according to quantum mechanics. Moreover, it contains two new contributions, one deriving from the vector potential and the other from a current density arising from the electron spin. By means of proper choices ofF, new expressions of the external currents of the system are determined as functions of the motion of its internal carriers. In particular, the electrokinematics theorem is exploited to compute the output current in two-terminal nanoelectronic devices in which, owing to the small sizes, quantum effects cannot be disregarded. Finally, such results, when they are applied to the double-barrier tunnelling structures, allow us to show the splitting of the electron pulse into two uncorrelated pulses, and as a consequence, to obtain a possible shot noise suppression, up to fifty per cent of the full shot noise.     

Entropy production fluctuation theorem and the nonequilibrium work relation for free energy differences

There are only a very few known relations in statistical dynamics that are valid for systems driven arbitrarily far-from-equilibrium. One of these is the fluctuation theorem, which places conditions on the entropy production probability distribution of nonequilibrium systems. Another recently discovered far from equilibrium expression relates nonequilibrium measurements of the work done on a system to equilibrium free energy differences. In this paper, we derive a generalized version of the fluctuation theorem for stochastic, microscopically reversible dynamics. Invoking this generalized theorem provides a succinct proof of the nonequilibrium work relation.     

Experimental test of the fluctuation theorem for a driven two-level system with time-dependent rates

A single defect center in diamond periodically excited by a laser is shown to provide a simple realization for a system obeying a fluctuation theorem for nonthermal noise. The distribution of these fluctuations is distinctly non-Gaussian, which has also been verified by numerical calculation. For driving protocols symmetric under time reversal a more restricted form of the theorem holds, which is also known from entropy fluctuations caused by thermal noise.