Seifert, Udo

Date:   Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Time:   14:00
Place:   scheduled Zoom meeting
Host:    Géraldine Haack

From stochastic thermodynamics to the cost of precision

Udo Seifert
University of Stuttgart, Germany

Stochastic thermodynamics provides a universal framework for analyzing nano- and micro-sized non-equilibrium systems. Prominent examples are single molecules, molecular machines, colloidal particles in time-dependent laser traps and biochemical networks. Thermodynamic notions like work, heat and entropy can be identified on the level of individual fluctuating  trajectories. They obey universal relations like the fluctuation theorem. Second-law like statements can be proven under well-motivated assumptions for a Hamitonian and for a stochastic dynamics.

Thermodynamic inference as a general strategy uses consistency constraints  derived from stochastic thermodynamics to infer otherwise hidden properties of non-equilibrium systems. As a paradigm for thermodynamic inference, the  thermodynamic uncertainty relation provides a lower bound on the entropy production through measurements of the dispersion of any current in the system. Likewise, it yields a model-free bound on the thermodynamic efficiency of molecular motors and quantifies the cost of temporal precision at finite temperature.

For a review: U. Seifert, Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 10, 171-192, 2019