2,290 research outputs found
Near-equilibrium measurements of nonequilibrium free energy
A central endeavor of thermodynamics is the measurement of free energy
changes. Regrettably, although we can measure the free energy of a system in
thermodynamic equilibrium, typically all we can say about the free energy of a
non-equilibrium ensemble is that it is larger than that of the same system at
equilibrium. Herein, we derive a formally exact expression for the probability
distribution of a driven system, which involves path ensemble averages of the
work over trajectories of the time-reversed system. From this we find a simple
near-equilibrium approximation for the free energy in terms of an excess mean
time-reversed work, which can be experimentally measured on real systems. With
analysis and computer simulation, we demonstrate the accuracy of our
approximations for several simple models.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
On the Quantum Jarzynski Identity
In this note, we will discuss how to compactly express and prove the
Jarzynski identity for an open quantum system with dissipative dynamics. We
will avoid explicitly measuring the work directly, which is tantamount to
continuously monitoring the system, and instead measure the heat flow from the
environment. We represent the measurement of heat flow with Hermitian map
superoperators that act on the system density matrix. Hermitian maps provide a
convenient and compact representation of sequential measurement and correlation
functions.Comment: 4 page
The length of time's arrow
An unresolved problem in physics is how the thermodynamic arrow of time
arises from an underlying time reversible dynamics. We contribute to this issue
by developing a measure of time-symmetry breaking, and by using the work
fluctuation relations, we determine the time asymmetry of recent single
molecule RNA unfolding experiments. We define time asymmetry as the
Jensen-Shannon divergence between trajectory probability distributions of an
experiment and its time-reversed conjugate. Among other interesting properties,
the length of time's arrow bounds the average dissipation and determines the
difficulty of accurately estimating free energy differences in nonequilibrium
experiments
Microscopic analysis of the microscopic reversibility in quantum systems
We investigate the robustness of the microscopic reversibility in open
quantum systems which is discussed by Monnai [arXiv:1106.1982 (2011)]. We
derive an exact relation between the forward transition probability and the
reversed transition probability in the case of a general measurement basis. We
show that the microscopic reversibility acquires some corrections in general
and discuss the physical meaning of the corrections. Under certain processes,
some of the correction terms vanish and we numerically confirmed that the
remaining correction term becomes negligible; the microscopic reversibility
almost holds even when the local system cannot be regarded as macroscopic.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure
Evaluation of be-38 percent al alloy final report, 27 jun. 1964 - 28 feb. 1965
Mechanical properties, microstructural features, and general metallurgical quality of beryllium- aluminum allo
The thermodynamics of prediction
A system responding to a stochastic driving signal can be interpreted as
computing, by means of its dynamics, an implicit model of the environmental
variables. The system's state retains information about past environmental
fluctuations, and a fraction of this information is predictive of future ones.
The remaining nonpredictive information reflects model complexity that does not
improve predictive power, and thus represents the ineffectiveness of the model.
We expose the fundamental equivalence between this model inefficiency and
thermodynamic inefficiency, measured by dissipation. Our results hold
arbitrarily far from thermodynamic equilibrium and are applicable to a wide
range of systems, including biomolecular machines. They highlight a profound
connection between the effective use of information and efficient thermodynamic
operation: any system constructed to keep memory about its environment and to
operate with maximal energetic efficiency has to be predictive.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur
Thermodynamic metrics and optimal paths
A fundamental problem in modern thermodynamics is how a molecular-scale
machine performs useful work, while operating away from thermal equilibrium
without excessive dissipation. To this end, we derive a friction tensor that
induces a Riemannian manifold on the space of thermodynamic states. Within the
linear-response regime, this metric structure controls the dissipation of
finite-time transformations, and bestows optimal protocols with many useful
properties. We discuss the connection to the existing thermodynamic length
formalism, and demonstrate the utility of this metric by solving for optimal
control parameter protocols in a simple nonequilibrium model.Comment: 5 page
Measurements of a low temperature mechanical dissipation peak in a single layer of Ta2O5 doped with TiO2
Thermal noise arising from mechanical dissipation in oxide coatings is a
major limitation to many precision measurement systems, including optical
frequency standards, high resolution optical spectroscopy and interferometric
gravity wave detectors. Presented here are measurements of dissipation as a
function of temperature between 7 K and 290 K in ion-beam sputtered Ta2O5 doped
with TiO2, showing a loss peak at 20 K. Analysis of the peak provides the first
evidence of the source of dissipation in doped Ta2O5 coatings, leading to
possibilities for the reduction of thermal noise effects
Nonequilibrium steady state thermodynamics and fluctuations for stochastic systems
We use the work done on and the heat removed from a system to maintain it in
a nonequilibrium steady state for a thermodynamic-like description of such a
system as well as of its fluctuations. Based on a generalized Onsager-Machlup
theory for nonequilibrium steady states we indicate two ambiguities, not
present in an equilibrium state, in defining such work and heat: one due to a
non-uniqueness of time-reversal procedures and another due to multiple
possibilities to separate heat into work and an energy difference in
nonequilibrium steady states. As a consequence, for such systems, the work and
heat satisfy multiple versions of the first and second laws of thermodynamics
as well as of their fluctuation theorems. Unique laws and relations appear only
to be obtainable for concretely defined systems, using physical arguments to
choose the relevant physical quantities. This is illustrated on a number of
systems, including a Brownian particle in an electric field, a driven torsion
pendulum, electric circuits and an energy transfer driven by a temperature
difference.Comment: 39 pages, 3 figur
Silica suspension and coating developments for Advanced LIGO
The proposed upgrade to the LIGO detectors to form the Advanced LIGO detector system is intended to incorporate a low thermal noise monolithic fused silica final stage test mass suspension based on developments of the GEO 600 suspension design. This will include fused silica suspension elements jointed to fused silica test mass substrates, to which dielectric mirror coatings are applied.
The silica fibres used for GEO 600 were pulled using a Hydrogen-Oxygen flame system. This successful system has some limitations, however, that needed to be overcome for the more demanding suspensions required for Advanced LIGO. To this end a fibre pulling machine based on a CO2 laser as the heating element is being developed in Glasgow with funding from EGO and PPARC.
At the moment a significant limitation for proposed detectors like Advanced LIGO is expected to come from the thermal noise of the mirror coatings. An investigation on mechanical losses of silica/tantala coatings was carried out by several labs involved with Advanced LIGO R&D. Doping the tantala coating layer with titania was found to reduce the coating mechanical dissipation. A review of the results is given here
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