IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v340y2004i1p66-75.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Non-equilibrium thermodynamics and fluctuations

Author

Listed:
  • van Zon, R.
  • Cohen, E.G.D.

Abstract

In the last 10 years, a number of “conventional fluctuation theorems” have been derived for systems with deterministic or stochastic dynamics, in a transient or in a non-equilibrium stationary state. These theorems gave explicit expressions for the ratio of the probability to find the system with a certain value of entropy (or heat) production to that of finding the opposite value. A similar theorem for the fluctuations of the work done on a system has recently been demonstrated experimentally for a simple system in a transient state, consisting of a Brownian particle in water, confined by a moving harmonic potential. In this paper, we show that because of the interaction between the stochastic motion of the particle in water and its deterministic motion in the potential, very different new heat theorems are found than in the conventional case. One of the consequences of these new heat fluctuation theorems is that the ratio of the probability for the Brownian particle to absorb heat from rather than supply heat to the water is much larger than in the conventional fluctuation theorems. This could be of relevance for micro/nano-technology.

Suggested Citation

  • van Zon, R. & Cohen, E.G.D., 2004. "Non-equilibrium thermodynamics and fluctuations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 340(1), pages 66-75.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:340:y:2004:i:1:p:66-75
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2004.03.078
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037843710400398X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2004.03.078?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:340:y:2004:i:1:p:66-75. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.