Equilibrium Chemical Engines

An equilibrium reversible cycle with a certain engine to transduce the energy of any chemical reaction into mechanical energy is proposed. The efficiency for chemical energy transduction is also defined so as to be compared with Carnot efficiency. Relevance to the study of protein motors is discussed. KEYWORDS: Chemical thermodynamics, Engine, Efficiency, Molecular machine.Comment: 5 pages, late

Sum rule for response function in nonequilibrium Langevin systems

We derive general properties of the linear response functions of nonequilibrium steady states in Langevin systems. These correspond to extension of the results which were recently found in Hamiltonian systems [A. Shimizu and T. Yuge, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. {\bf 79}, 013002 (2010)]. We discuss one of the properties, the sum rule for the response function, in particular detail. We show that the sum rule for the response function of the velocity holds in the underdamped case, whereas it is violated in the overdamped case. This implies that the overdamped Langevin models should be used with great care. We also investigate the relation of the sum rule to an equality on the energy dissipation in nonequilibrium Langevin systems, which was derived by Harada and Sasa.Comment: 8 page

The Carnot Cycle for Small Systems: Irreversibility and the Cost of Operations

We employ the recently developed framework of the energetics of stochastic processes (called `stochastic energetics'), to re-analyze the Carnot cycle in detail, taking account of fluctuations, without taking the thermodynamic limit. We find that both processes of connection to and disconnection from heat baths and adiabatic processes that cause distortion of the energy distribution are sources of inevitable irreversibility within the cycle. Also, the so-called null-recurrence property of the cumulative efficiency of energy conversion over many cycles and the irreversible property of isolated, purely mechanical processes under external `macroscopic' operations are discussed in relation to the impossibility of a perpetual machine, or Maxwell's demon.Comment: 11 pages with 3 figures. Resubmitted to Physical Review E. Many paragraphs have been modifie

A detection of ill-formed patterns about programming style

Programming style plays an important role in program understanding andmaintenance. We have implemented a plan recognition system for source code search,and have attempted detection of ill-formed patterns about programming style through it. In this paper, we present experimental result obtained from a prototype system. Weascertained that our system is able to diagnose various items about programming style,so it may be used as an effective tool of programming style diagnosis.ArticleKnowledge-based software engineering : proceedings of the Third Joint Conference on Knowledge-based Software Engineering in Smolenice, Slovakia, 1998. 165-168 (1998)conference pape

Momentum transfer in non-equilibrium steady states

When a Brownian object interacts with non-interacting gas particles under non-equilibrium conditions, the energy dissipation associated to the Brownian motion causes an additional force on the object as a `momentum transfer deficit'. This principle is demonstrated first by a new NESS model and then applied to several known models such as adiabatic piston for which simple explanation has been lacking.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Inattainability of Carnot efficiency in the Brownian heat engine

We discuss the reversibility of Brownian heat engine. We perform asymptotic analysis of Kramers equation on B\"uttiker-Landauer system and show quantitatively that Carnot efficiency is inattainable even in a fully overdamping limit. The inattainability is attributed to the inevitable irreversible heat flow over the temperature boundary.Comment: 5 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Energetics of Forced Thermal Ratchet

Molecular motors are known to have the high efficiency of energy transformation in the presence of thermal fluctuation. Motivated by the surprising fact, recent studies of thermal ratchet models are showing how and when work should be extracted from non-equilibrium fluctuations. One of the important finding was brought by Magnasco where he studied the temperature dependence on the fluctuation-induced current in a ratchet (multistable) system and showed that the current can generically be maximized in a finite temperature. The interesting finding has been interpreted that thermal fluctuation is not harmful for the fluctuation-induced work and even facilitates its efficiency. We show, however, this interpretation turns out to be incorrect as soon as we go into the realm of the energetics [Sekimoto,J.Phys.Soc.Jpn.66,1234-1237(1997)]: the efficiency of energy transformation is not maximized at finite temperature, even in the same system that Magnasco considered. The maximum efficiency is realized in the absence of thermal fluctuation. The result presents an open problem whether thermal fluctuation could facilitate the efficiency of energetic transformation from force-fluctuation into work.Comment: 3pages, 4sets of figure

Brownian Motors driven by Particle Exchange

We extend the Langevin dynamics so that particles can be exchanged with a particle reservoir. We show that grand canonical ensembles are realized at equilibrium and derive the relations of thermodynamics for processes between equilibrium states. As an application of the proposed evolution rule, we devise a simple model of Brownian motors driven by particle exchange. KEYWORDS: Langevin Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Open SystemsComment: 5 pages, late

Work Relation and the Second Law of Thermodynamics in Nonequilibrium Steady States

We extend Jarzynski's work relation and the second law of thermodynamics to a heat conducting system which is operated by an external agent. These extensions contain a new non equilibrium contribution expressed as the violation of the (linear) response relation caused by the operation. We find that a natural extension of the minimum work principle involves information about the time-reversed operation, and is far from straightforward. Our work relation may be tested experimentally especially when the temperature gradient is small.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Brownian dynamics around the core of self-gravitating systems

We derive the non-Maxwellian distribution of self-gravitating $N$-body systems around the core by a model based on the random process with the additive and the multiplicative noise. The number density can be obtained through the steady state solution of the Fokker-Planck equation corresponding to the random process. We exhibit that the number density becomes equal to that of the King model around the core by adjusting the friction coefficient and the intensity of the multiplicative noise. We also show that our model can be applied in the system which has a heavier particle. Moreover, we confirm the validity of our model by comparing with our numerical simulation.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure