Thermodynamics of Biological Switches
Statistical Mechanics
2025-11-03 v2 Subcellular Processes
Abstract
We derive a formulation of the First Law of nonequilibrium thermodynamics for biological information-processing systems by partitioning entropy in the Second Law into microscopic and mesoscopic components and by assuming that natural selection promotes optimal information processing and transmission. The resulting framework demonstrates how mesoscopic information-based subsystems can attain nonequilibrium steady states (NESS) sustained by external energy and entropy fluxes, such as those generated by ATP/ADP imbalances in vivo. Moreover, mesoscopic systems may reach NESS before microscopic subsystems, leading to ordered structures in entropy flow analogous to eddies in a moving stream.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.25359,
title = {Thermodynamics of Biological Switches},
author = {Roger D. Jones and Achille Giacometti and Alan M. Jones},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.25359},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
One figure. Proceedings of Wivace2025. 10 pages