Restoring a fluctuation-dissipation theorem in a nonequilibrium steady state

In a nonequilibrium steady state, the violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) is connected to breaking detailed balance. For the velocity correlations of a driven colloidal particle we calculate an explicit expression of the FDT violation. The equilibrium form of the FDT can be restored by measuring the velocity with respect to the local mean velocity.Comment: streamlined derivation and minor change

Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem in Nonequilibrium Steady States

In equilibrium, the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) expresses the response of an observable to a small perturbation by a correlation function of this variable with another one that is conjugate to the perturbation with respect to \emph{energy}. For a nonequilibrium steady state (NESS), the corresponding FDT is shown to involve in the correlation function a variable that is conjugate with respect to \emph{entropy}. By splitting up entropy production into one of the system and one of the medium, it is shown that for systems with a genuine equilibrium state the FDT of the NESS differs from its equilibrium form by an additive term involving \emph{total} entropy production. A related variant of the FDT not requiring explicit knowledge of the stationary state is particularly useful for coupled Langevin systems. The \emph{a priori} surprising freedom apparently involved in different forms of the FDT in a NESS is clarified.Comment: 6 pages; EPL, in pres

Characterizing Potentials by a Generalized Boltzmann Factor

Based on the concept of a nonequilibrium steady state, we present a novel method to experimentally determine energy landscapes acting on colloidal systems. By measuring the stationary probability distribution and the current in the system, we explore potential landscapes with barriers up to several hundred \kT. As an illustration, we use this approach to measure the effective diffusion coefficient of a colloidal particle moving in a tilted potential

Measurement of Stochastic Entropy Production

Using fluorescence spectroscopy we directly measure entropy production of a single two-level system realized experimentally as an optically driven defect center in diamond. We exploit a recent suggestion to define entropy on the level of a single stochastic trajectory (Seifert, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 95}, 040602 (2005)). Entropy production can then be split into one of the system itself and one of the surrounding medium. We demonstrate that the total entropy production obeys various exact relations for finite time trajectories.Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett., in pres

Mobility and Diffusion of a Tagged Particle in a Driven Colloidal Suspension

We study numerically the influence of density and strain rate on the diffusion and mobility of a single tagged particle in a sheared colloidal suspension. We determine independently the time-dependent velocity autocorrelation functions and, through a novel method, the response functions with respect to a small force. While both the diffusion coefficient and the mobility depend on the strain rate the latter exhibits a rather weak dependency. Somewhat surprisingly, we find that the initial decay of response and correlation functions coincide, allowing for an interpretation in terms of an 'effective temperature'. Such a phenomenological effective temperature recovers the Einstein relation in nonequilibrium. We show that our data is well described by two expansions to lowest order in the strain rate.Comment: submitted to EP

The Einstein relation generalized to non-equilibrium

The Einstein relation connecting the diffusion constant and the mobility is violated beyond the linear response regime. For a colloidal particle driven along a periodic potential imposed by laser traps, we test the recent theoretical generalization of the Einstein relation to the non-equilibrium regime which involves an integral over measurable velocity correlation functions

Thermodynamics of a Colloidal Particle in a Time-Dependent Non-Harmonic Potential

We study the motion of an overdamped colloidal particle in a time-dependent non-harmonic potential. We demonstrate the first law-like balance between applied work, exchanged heat, and internal energy on the level of a single trajectory. The observed distribution of applied work is distinctly non-Gaussian in good agreement with numerical calculations. Both the Jarzynski relation and a detailed fluctuation theorem are verified with good accuracy

Effective temperatures of a heated Brownian particle

We investigate various possible definitions of an effective temperature for a particularly simple nonequilibrium stationary system, namely a heated Brownian particle suspended in a fluid. The effective temperature based on the fluctuation dissipation ratio depends on the time scale under consideration, so that a simple Langevin description of the heated particle is impossible. The short and long time limits of this effective temperature are shown to be consistent with the temperatures estimated from the kinetic energy and Einstein relation, respectively. The fluctuation theorem provides still another definition of the temperature, which is shown to coincide with the short time value of the fluctuation dissipation ratio

Current-Induced Spin Polarization in Gallium Nitride

Electrically generated spin polarization is probed directly in bulk GaN using Kerr rotation spectroscopy. A series of n-type GaN epilayers are grown in the wurtzite phase both by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) with a variety of doping densities chosen to broadly modulate the transverse spin lifetime, T2*. The spin polarization is characterized as a function of electrical excitation energy over a range of temperatures. Despite weak spin-orbit interactions in GaN, a current-induced spin polarization (CISP) is observed in the material at temperatures of up to 200 K.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure