Probing the limits of effective temperature consistency in actively driven systems
Abstract
We investigate the thermodynamic properties of a single inertial probe driven into a nonequilibrium steady-state by random collisions with self-propelled active walkers. The probe and walkers are confined within a gravitational harmonic potential. We evaluate the robustness of the effective temperature concept in this active system by comparing values of distinct, independently motivated definitions: a generalized fluctuation-dissipation relation, a kinetic temperature, and a work fluctuation relation. Our experiments reveal that, under specific conditions, these independent measurements yield a remarkably consistent effective temperature over a wide range of system configurations. Furthermore, we also identify regimes where this consistency breaks down, which delineates the fundamental limits of extending equilibrium-like thermodynamic concepts to athermal, actively driven systems.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2508.07362,
title = {Probing the limits of effective temperature consistency in actively driven systems},
author = {Dima Boriskovsky and Rémi Goerlich and Benjamin Lindner and Yael Roichman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.07362},
year = {2026}
}