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Run-and-tumble particles constitute one of the simplest models of self-propelled active matter, and provide an ideal playground to the understanding of out-of-equilibrium systems. We consider an idealized setup where one such particle is…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-02-05 Marco Baldovin , Alessandro Manacorda

Collisional Brownian engines have recently gained attention as alternatives to conventional nanoscale engines. However, a comprehensive optimization of their performance, which could serve as a benchmark for future engine designs, is still…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-11-05 Gustavo A. L. Forão

Micro- and nano-scale systems driven by rapid changes in control parameters (control protocols) dissipate significant energy. In the fast-protocol limit, we find that protocols that minimize dissipation at fixed duration are universally…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2021-08-11 Steven Blaber , Miranda D. Louwerse , David A. Sivak

We consider damped stochastic systems in a controlled (time-varying) quadratic potential and study their transition between specified Gibbs-equilibria states in finite time. By the second law of thermodynamics, the minimum amount of work…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-03-23 Yongxin Chen , Tryphon Georgiou , Allen Tannenbaum

The Jarzynski Equality is a well-known and widely used identity, relating the free energy difference between two states of a system to the work done over some arbitrary, nonequilibrium transformation between the two states. Despite being…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-12-18 Stuart J. Davie , Owen G. Jepps , Lamberto Rondoni , James C. Reid , Debra J. Searles

Quantifying energy flows at nanometer scales promises to guide future research in a variety of disciplines, from microscopic control and manipulation, to autonomously operating molecular machines. A general understanding of the…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-11-26 Steven J. Large , Raphaël Chetrite , David A. Sivak

Optimal control is a central problem in quantum thermodynamics. When minimizing dissipated work and work fluctuations defined via the two-point measurement scheme in open quantum systems, existing approaches largely focus on the rapid- and…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-04-08 Yuki Kurokawa , Yoshihiko Hasegawa

The goal of thermodynamic optimal control theory is to find protocols to change the state of a system from an initial to a desired final distribution, within a finite time, with the least possible expenditure of work. The optimal protocol…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-12-18 Daan Mulder , Thomas E. Ouldridge , Pieter Rein ten Wolde

Microscopic particle separation plays vital role in various scientific and industrial domains. In this Letter, we propose a universal non-equilibrium thermodynamic approach, employing the concept of Shortcuts to Isothermality, to realize…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-05-19 Xiu-Hua Zhao , Z. C. Tu , Yu-Han Ma

The second law of thermodynamics sets a lower bound on the work required to drive a system between thermal equilibrium states, with equality attained in the quasistatic limit. For finite-time processes, part of the extractable work is…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-20 Masaaki Tokieda

The development of efficient artificial nanodevices poses challenges which are of fundamental and technological nature. Recent progress has been made in the context of finite-time thermodynamics. A central question in finite-time…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2014-03-18 Mario Einax

The optimization of the conversion of thermal energy into work and the minimization of dissipation for nano- and mesoscopic systems is a complex challenge because of the important role fluctuations play on the dynamics of small systems. We…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-09-24 Alberto Rolandi

Constructing optimal thermodynamic processes in quantum systems relies on managing the balance between the average excess work and its stochastic fluctuations. Recently it has been shown that two different quantum generalisations of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-12-06 Mohammad Mehboudi , Harry J. D. Miller

The selection of an equilibrium state by maximising the entropy of a system, subject to certain constraints, is often powerfully motivated as an exercise in logical inference, a procedure where conclusions are reached on the basis of…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-12-03 Ian J. Ford

We derive optimal-work finite time protocols for a colloidal particle in a Gaussian well in the general non-Markovian underdamped regime in contact with a single reservoir. Optimal work protocols with and without measurements of position…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2018-05-08 Oscar Paredes-Altuve , Ernesto Medina , Pedro J. Colmenares

We study the problem of optimizing released heat or dissipated work in stochastic thermodynamics. In the overdamped limit these functionals have singular solutions, previously interpreted as protocol jumps. We show that a regularization,…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2015-06-03 Erik Aurell , Carlos Mejia-Monasterio , Paolo Muratore-Ginanneschi

We analyze the control of the motion of a charged particle by means of an external electric field. The system is constrained to move along a given direction. The goal of the control is to change the speed of the particle in a fixed time…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-01-22 V. Martikyan , D. Guéry-Odelin , D. Sugny

Designing a protocol to efficiently drive a stochastic system is an active field of research. Here we extend such control theory to an active Ornstein-Uhlenbeck particle (AOUP) in a bistable potential, driven by a harmonic trap. We find…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2023-08-15 Deepak Gupta , Sabine H. L. Klapp , David A. Sivak

Stochastic thermodynamics lays down a broad framework to revisit the venerable concepts of heat, work and entropy production for individual stochastic trajectories of mesoscopic systems. Remarkably, this approach, relying on stochastic…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2023-01-31 David Guéry-Odelin , Christopher Jarzynski , Carlos A. Plata , Antonio Prados , Emmanuel Trizac

We consider the problem of finding the energy minimum of a complex quantum Hamiltonian by employing a non-Markovian bath prepared in a low energy state. The energy minimization problem is thus turned into a thermodynamic cooling protocol in…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-03-29 Alberto Imparato , Nicholas Chancellor , Gabriele De Chiara