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Nanoscale machines are strongly influenced by thermal fluctuations, contrary to their macroscopic counterparts. As a consequence, even the efficiency of such microscopic machines becomes a fluctuating random variable. Using geometric…
Optimisation of heat engines at the micro-scale has applications in biological and artificial nano-technology, and stimulates theoretical research in non-equilibrium statistical physics. Here we consider non-interacting overdamped particles…
Living systems at the molecular scale are composed of many constituents with strong and heterogeneous interactions, operating far from equilibrium, and subject to strong fluctuations. These conditions pose significant challenges to…
Linear bio-molecular motors move unidirectionally along a track by coordinating several different processes, such as fuel (ATP) capture, hydrolysis, conformational changes, binding and unbinding from a track, and center-of-mass diffusion. A…
A simple model of the two-state ratchet type is proposed for molecular chemical engines that convert chemical free energy into mechanical work and vice versa. The engine works by catalyzing a chemical reaction and turning a rotor.…
We propose a thermodynamically consistent minimal model to study synchronization which is made of driven and interacting three-state units. This system exhibits at the mean-field level two bifurcations separating three dynamical phases: a…
We consider a three-stroke engine in the microscopic regime, where the working body of the engine is composed of a two-level system. The working body of the engine aims to withdraw heat from the hot heat bath, generate work, and discharge…
In living cells, molecular motors convert chemical energy into mechanical work. Its thermodynamic energy efficiency, i.e. the ratio of output mechanical work to input chemical energy, is usually high. However, using two-state models, we…
Under a general framework, shortcuts to adiabatic processes are shown to be possible in classical systems. We then study the distribution function of the work done on a small system initially prepared at thermal equilibrium. It is found…
Underactuated manipulators reduce the number of bulky motors, thereby enabling compact and mechanically robust designs. However, fewer actuators than joints means that the manipulator can only access a specific manifold within the joint…
Understanding the connections between information and thermodynamics has been among the most visible applications of stochastic thermodynamics. While recent theoretical advances have established that the second law of thermodynamics sets…
Reducing work fluctuation and dissipation in heat engines or, more generally, information heat engines that perform feedback control is vital to maximize their efficiency. The same problem arises when we attempt to maximize the efficiency…
We introduce heat engines working in the nano-regime that allow to extract a finite amount of deterministic work. We show that the efficiency of these cycles is strictly smaller than Carnot's, and we associate this difference with a…
We analyze experimental observations of microtubules undergoing small fluctuations about a "balance point" when mixed in solution of two different kinesin motor proteins, KLP61F and Ncd. It has been proposed that the microtubule movement is…
A simple tight-coupling model of a molecular chemical engine is proposed. The efficiency of the chemical engine and its average velocity can be explicitly calculated. The diffusion constant is evaluated approximately using the fluctuation…
Molecular motors convert chemical energy into mechanical work while operating in an environment dominated by Brownian motion. The aim of this paper is to explore the flow of energy between the molecular motors and its surroundings, in…
Heat engines transform thermal energy into useful work, operating in a cyclic manner. For centuries, they have played a key role in industrial and technological development. Historically, only gases and liquids have been used as working…
Molecular motors walk along filaments until they detach stochastically with a force-dependent unbinding rate. Here, we show that this unbinding rate can be obtained from the analysis of experimental data of molecular motors moving in…
The fluctuation theorem is a representative theorem in non-equilibrium statistical physics actively studied in the 1990's. Relating to entropy production in non-equilibrium states, the theorem has been used to estimate the driving power of…
Elastic networks can be tuned to exhibit complex mechanical responses and have been extensively used to study protein allosteric functionality, where a localized strain regulates the conformation at a distant site. We show that cooperative…