Stochastic thermodynamics of fluctuating density fields: Non-equilibrium free energy differences under coarse-graining
Abstract
We discuss the stochastic thermodynamics of systems that are described by a time-dependent density field, for example simple liquids and colloidal suspensions. For a time-dependent change of external parameters, we show that the Jarzynski relation connecting work with the change of free energy holds if the time evolution of the density follows the Kawasaki-Dean equation. Specifically, we study the work distributions for the compression and expansion of a two-dimensional colloidal model suspension implementing a practical coarse-graining scheme of the microscopic particle positions. We demonstrate that even if coarse-grained dynamics and density functional do not match, the fluctuation relations for the work still hold albeit for a different, apparent, change of free energy.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1310.2891,
title = {Stochastic thermodynamics of fluctuating density fields: Non-equilibrium free energy differences under coarse-graining},
author = {T. Leonard and B. Lander and U. Seifert and T. Speck},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.2891},
year = {2014}
}