• Open Access

Experiments in Stochastic Thermodynamics: Short History and Perspectives

S. Ciliberto
Phys. Rev. X 7, 021051 – Published 30 June 2017
An article within the collection: Special Collection on Stochastic Thermodynamics

Abstract

We summarize in this article the experiments which have been performed to test the theoretical findings in stochastic thermodynamics such as fluctuation theorem, Jarzynski equality, stochastic entropy, out-of-equilibrium fluctuation dissipation theorem, and the generalized first and second laws. We briefly describe experiments on mechanical oscillators, colloids, biological systems, and electric circuits in which the statistical properties of out-of-equilibrium fluctuations have been measured and characterized using the abovementioned tools. We discuss the main findings and drawbacks. Special emphasis is given to the connection between information and thermodynamics. The perspectives and followup of stochastic thermodynamics in future experiments and in practical applications are also discussed.

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  • Received 5 April 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.7.021051

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Statistical Physics & Thermodynamics

Collections

This article appears in the following collection:

Special Collection on Stochastic Thermodynamics

A Physical Review X special collection on stochastic thermodynamics.

Authors & Affiliations

S. Ciliberto

  • Université de Lyon, CNRS, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Laboratoire de Physique (UMR5672), 46 Allée d’Italie 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France

Popular Summary

Understanding the efficiency of nanomachines, molecular motors, and biological cellular processes requires understanding how heat, energy, and work operate on very small scales. Traditional thermodynamics—the field of physics focused on how heat and energy move and transform—does not work well in this realm, where thermal and quantum fluctuations have a significant impact. This is where stochastic thermodynamics, which lays out a framework for understanding energy fluxes and exchanges in small systems, comes into play. Stochastic thermodynamics extends traditional thermodynamic laws to account for small-scale fluctuations. In this paper, we provide an overview of this field, summarizing a few experiments that test theoretical predictions and discussing how stochastic thermodynamics can be used to measure useful parameters of new systems.

We use a variety of theoretical methods to analyze the same experimental setups. One setup is energy fluctuations in a harmonic oscillator driven out of equilibrium, which is relevant to several practical applications such as measuring the elasticity of nanotubes and the motion of the tip of an atomic force microscope. Other setups follow the random motion of a single particle, transitions in biological molecules, and current fluctuations in both electric circuits and single electron transistors. We also analyze connections between thermodynamics and information theory by discussing the energy production of devices controlled by a Maxwell’s demon (a device that can locally lower the entropy of a system) as well as the minimum energy needed to produce one bit of information.

While not exhaustive, this review provides a reasonable overview of the progress in stochastic thermodynamics and its practical applications. This field is critical to the development of efficient nanomachines as well as developing new insight into information theory and the dynamics of atoms and molecules.

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Vol. 7, Iss. 2 — April - June 2017

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