Diffusion in nonuniform temperature and its geometric analog
Statistical Mechanics
2015-06-12 v3
Abstract
We propose a Langevin equation for systems in an environment with nonuniform temperature. At odds with an older proposal, ours admits a locally Maxwellian steady state, local equipartition holds and for detailed-balanced (reversible) systems statistical and physical entropies coincide. We describe its thermodynamics, which entails a generalized version of the First Law and Clausius's characterization of reversibility. Finally, we show that a Brownian particle constrained into a smooth curve behaves according to our equation, as if experiencing nonuniform temperature.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1211.6580,
title = {Diffusion in nonuniform temperature and its geometric analog},
author = {Matteo Polettini},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1211.6580},
year = {2015}
}