4,817 research outputs found
A meaningful expansion around detailed balance
We consider Markovian dynamics modeling open mesoscopic systems which are
driven away from detailed balance by a nonconservative force. A systematic
expansion is obtained of the stationary distribution around an equilibrium
reference, in orders of the nonequilibrium forcing. The first order around
equilibrium has been known since the work of McLennan (1959), and involves the
transient irreversible entropy flux. The expansion generalizes the McLennan
formula to higher orders, complementing the entropy flux with the dynamical
activity. The latter is more kinetic than thermodynamic and is a possible
realization of Landauer's insight (1975) that, for nonequilibrium, the relative
occupation of states also depends on the noise along possible escape routes. In
that way nonlinear response around equilibrium can be meaningfully discussed in
terms of two main quantities only, the entropy flux and the dynamical activity.
The expansion makes mathematical sense as shown in the simplest cases from
exponential ergodicity.Comment: 19 page
Derivation of quantum work equalities using quantum Feynman-Kac formula
On the basis of a quantum mechanical analogue of the famous Feynman-Kac
formula and the Kolmogorov picture, we present a novel method to derive
nonequilibrium work equalities for isolated quantum systems, which include the
Jarzynski equality and Bochkov-Kuzovlev equality. Compared with previous
methods in the literature, our method shows higher similarity in form to that
deriving the classical fluctuation relations, which would give important
insight when exploring new quantum fluctuation relations.Comment: 5 page
Stochastic thermodynamics of chemical reaction networks
For chemical reaction networks described by a master equation, we define
energy and entropy on a stochastic trajectory and develop a consistent
nonequilibrium thermodynamic description along a single stochastic trajectory
of reaction events. A first-law like energy balance relates internal energy,
applied (chemical) work and dissipated heat for every single reaction. Entropy
production along a single trajectory involves a sum over changes in the entropy
of the network itself and the entropy of the medium. The latter is given by the
exchanged heat identified through the first law. Total entropy production is
constrained by an integral fluctuation theorem for networks arbitrarily driven
by time-dependent rates and a detailed fluctuation theorem for networks in the
steady state. Further exact relations like a generalized Jarzynski relation and
a generalized Clausius inequality are discussed. We illustrate these results
for a three-species cyclic reaction network which exhibits nonequilibrium
steady states as well as transitions between different steady states.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phy
An Extension of the Fluctuation Theorem
Heat fluctuations are studied in a dissipative system with both mechanical
and stochastic components for a simple model: a Brownian particle dragged
through water by a moving potential. An extended stationary state fluctuation
theorem is derived. For infinite time, this reduces to the conventional
fluctuation theorem only for small fluctuations; for large fluctuations, it
gives a much larger ratio of the probabilities of the particle to absorb rather
than supply heat. This persists for finite times and should be observable in
experiments similar to a recent one of Wang et al.Comment: 12 pages, 1 eps figure in color (though intelligible in black and
white
Pregnancy has a minimal impact on the acute transcriptional signature to vaccination.
Vaccination in pregnancy is an effective tool to protect both the mother and infant; vaccines against influenza, pertussis and tetanus are currently recommended. A number of vaccines with a specific indication for use in pregnancy are in development, with the specific aim of providing passive humoral immunity to the newborn child against pathogens responsible for morbidity and mortality in young infants. However, the current understanding about the immune response to vaccination in pregnancy is incomplete. We analysed the effect of pregnancy on early transcriptional responses to vaccination. This type of systems vaccinology approach identifies genes and pathways that are altered in response to vaccination and can be used to understand both the acute inflammation in response to the vaccine and to predict immunogenicity. Pregnant women and mice were immunised with Boostrix-IPV, a multivalent vaccine, which contains three pertussis antigens. Blood was collected from women before and after vaccination and RNA extracted for analysis by microarray. While there were baseline differences between pregnant and non-pregnant women, vaccination induced characteristic patterns of gene expression, with upregulation in interferon response and innate immunity gene modules, independent of pregnancy. We saw similar patterns of responses in both women and mice, supporting the use of mice for preclinical screening of novel maternal vaccines. Using a systems vaccinology approach in pregnancy demonstrated that pregnancy does not affect the initial response to vaccination and that studies in non-pregnant women can provide information about vaccine immunogenicity and potentially safety
Nonequilibrium Linear Response for Markov Dynamics, II: Inertial Dynamics
We continue our study of the linear response of a nonequilibrium system. This
Part II concentrates on models of open and driven inertial dynamics but the
structure and the interpretation of the result remain unchanged: the response
can be expressed as a sum of two temporal correlations in the unperturbed
system, one entropic, the other frenetic. The decomposition arises from the
(anti)symmetry under time-reversal on the level of the nonequilibrium action.
The response formula involves a statistical averaging over explicitly known
observables but, in contrast with the equilibrium situation, they depend on the
model dynamics in terms of an excess in dynamical activity. As an example, the
Einstein relation between mobility and diffusion constant is modified by a
correlation term between the position and the momentum of the particle
Is there an integrative center in the vertebrate brain-stem? A robotic evaluation of a model of the reticular formation viewed as an action selection device
Neurobehavioral data from intact, decerebrate, and neonatal rats, suggests that the reticular formation provides
a brainstem substrate for action selection in the vertebrate central nervous system. In this article, Kilmer,
McCulloch and Blum’s (1969, 1997) landmark reticular formation model is described and re-evaluated, both in
simulation and, for the first time, as a mobile robot controller. Particular model configurations are found to
provide effective action selection mechanisms in a robot survival task using either simulated or physical robots.
The model’s competence is dependent on the organization of afferents from model sensory systems, and a genetic
algorithm search identified a class of afferent configurations which have long survival times. The results support
our proposal that the reticular formation evolved to provide effective arbitration between innate behaviors
and, with the forebrain basal ganglia, may constitute the integrative, ’centrencephalic’ core of vertebrate brain
architecture. Additionally, the results demonstrate that the Kilmer et al. model provides an alternative form of
robot controller to those usually considered in the adaptive behavior literature
Chaotic Hypothesis, Fluctuation Theorem and singularities
The chaotic hypothesis has several implications which have generated interest
in the literature because of their generality and because a few exact
predictions are among them. However its application to Physics problems
requires attention and can lead to apparent inconsistencies. In particular
there are several cases that have been considered in the literature in which
singularities are built in the models: for instance when among the forces there
are Lennard-Jones potentials (which are infinite in the origin) and the
constraints imposed on the system do not forbid arbitrarily close approach to
the singularity even though the average kinetic energy is bounded. The
situation is well understood in certain special cases in which the system is
subject to Gaussian noise; here the treatment of rather general singular
systems is considered and the predictions of the chaotic hypothesis for such
situations are derived. The main conclusion is that the chaotic hypothesis is
perfectly adequate to describe the singular physical systems we consider, i.e.
deterministic systems with thermostat forces acting according to Gauss'
principle for the constraint of constant total kinetic energy (``isokinetic
Gaussian thermostats''), close and far from equilibrium. Near equilibrium it
even predicts a fluctuation relation which, in deterministic cases with more
general thermostat forces (i.e. not necessarily of Gaussian isokinetic nature),
extends recent relations obtained in situations in which the thermostatting
forces satisfy Gauss' principle. This relation agrees, where expected, with the
fluctuation theorem for perfectly chaotic systems. The results are compared
with some recent works in the literature.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure; updated to take into account comments received on
the first versio
- …