English

Work and heat probability distribution of an optically driven Brownian particle: Theory and experiments

Statistical Mechanics 2007-11-13 v3 Soft Condensed Matter

Abstract

We analyze the equations governing the evolution of distributions of the work and the heat exchanged with the environment by a manipulated stochastic system, by means of a compact and general derivation. We obtain explicit solutions for these equations for the case of a dragged Brownian particle in a harmonic potential. We successfully compare the resulting predictions with the outcomes of experiments, consisting in dragging a micron-sized colloidal particle through water with a laser trap.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0707.0439,
  title  = {Work and heat probability distribution of an optically driven Brownian particle: Theory and experiments},
  author = {A. Imparato and L. Peliti and G. Pesce and G. Rusciano and A. Sasso},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0707.0439},
  year   = {2007}
}