Related papers: Molecular machines operating on nanoscale: from cl…
Recent experiments reveal both passive subdiffusion of various nanoparticles and anomalous active transport of such particles by molecular motors in the molecularly crowded environment of living biological cells. Passive and active…
We consider an isothermal machine composed of two Brownian particles (say particle A and B) connected by a harmonic spring. A constant load is attached to particle A, and the particle B is trapped in a harmonic confinement whose minimum is…
Emergence, optimization and stability of a motor-like motion in a fluctuating environment are analyzed. The emergence of motion is shown to be a general phenomenon. A motor converges to the state with the minimum of effective temperature…
Living systems efficiently use chemical fuel to do work, process information, and assemble patterns despite thermal noise. Whether high efficiency arises from general principles or specific fine-tuning is unknown. Here, applying a recent…
Classical thermodynamics is unrivalled in its range of applications and relevance to everyday life. It enables a description of complex systems, made up of microscopic particles, in terms of a small number of macroscopic quantities, such as…
The construction of efficient thermal engines operating at finite times constitutes a fundamental and timely topic in nonequilibrium thermodynamics. We introduce a strategy for optimizing the performance of Brownian engines, based on a…
A nanoscale-sized Stirling engine with an atomistic working fluid has been modeled using molecular dynamics simulation. The design includes heat exchangers based on thermostats, pistons attached to a flywheel under load, and a regenerator.…
Brownian motors, i.e. devices able to produce useful work out of thermal forces with the help of other unbiased forces, provide an ideal benchmark for the investigation of quantum dissipative systems, for two reasons. First, the interaction…
Microscopic biological systems operate far from equilibrium, are subject to strong fluctuations, and are composed of many coupled components with interactions varying in nature and strength. Researchers are actively investigating the…
Nanomechanics has brought mesoscopic physics into the world of vibrations. Because nanomechanical systems are small, fluctuations are significant, the vibrations become nonlinear already for comparatively small amplitudes, and new…
Developing the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of friction is required for systematic design of low friction surfaces for a broad range of technological applications. Intuitively, the thermodynamic work done by a material sliding along a…
This Colloquium is a fast journey through the build-up of key thermodynamical concepts, i.e. work, heat and irreversibility -- and how they relate to information. Born at the time of industrial revolution to optimize the exploitation of…
Using the fluctuation theorem supplemented with geometric arguments, we derive universal features of the (long-time) efficiency fluctuations for thermal and isothermal machines operating under steady or periodic driving, close or far from…
We study microscopic engines that use a single active particle as their "working medium". Part of the energy required to drive the directed motion of the particle can be recovered as work, even at constant temperature. A wide class of…
We identify the operational conditions for maximum power of a nanothermoelectric engine consisting of a single quantum level embedded between two leads at different temperatures and chemical potentials. The corresponding thermodynamic…
This mini-review is intended as a short introduction to electron flow in nanostructures. Its aim is to provide a brief overview of this topic for people who are interested in the thermodynamics of quantum systems but know little about…
We review a series of experimental studies of the thermodynamics of nonequilibrium processes at the microscale. In particular, in these experiments we studied the fluctuations of the thermodynamic properties of a single optically-trapped…
Engines are systems and devices that convert one form of energy into another, typically into a more useful form that can perform work. In the classical setup, physical, chemical, and biological engines largely involve the conversion of heat…
We study the heat transfer between two nanoparticles held at different temperatures that interact through nonreciprocal forces, by combining molecular dynamics simulations with stochastic thermodynamics. Our simulations reveal that it is…
If the 20th century was known for the computational revolution, what will the 21st be known for? Perhaps the recent strides in the nascent fields of molecular programming and biological computation will help bring about the 'Coming Era of…