No Arabic abstract
These notes are based on lectures given during the Summer School `Active matter and non-equilibrium statistical physics, held in Les Houches in September 2018. In these notes, we have merged our lectures into a single chapter broadly dedicated to `Non-equilibrium active systems. We start with a discussion of generic features of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, followed by a description of selected examples of the possible consequences of not being at thermal equilibrium. We then introduce the topic of dense glassy materials with a short review of glassy dynamics, rheology and jamming transitions for systems that are not active. We then discuss dense active materials, from simple mean-field theories to numerical models and experimental realizations. Finally, we discuss two examples of materials driven out of equilibrium by an oscillatory driving force.
The Jarzynski identity can be applied to instances when a microscopic system is pulled repeatedly but quickly along some coordinate, allowing the calculation of an equilibrium free energy profile along the pulling coordinate from a set of independent non-equilibrium trajectories. Using the formalism of Wiener stochastic path integrals in which we assign temperature-dependent weights to Langevin trajectories, we derive exact formulae for the temperature derivatives of the free energy profile. This leads naturally to analytical expressions for decomposing a free energy profile into equilibrium entropy and internal energy profiles from non-equilibrium pulling. This decomposition can be done from trajectories evolved at a unique temperature without repeating the measurement as done in finite-difference decompositions. Three distinct analytical expressions for the entropy-energy decomposition are derived: using a time-dependent generalization of the weighted histogram analysis method, a quasi harmonic spring limit, and a Feynman-Kac formula. The three novel formulae of reconstructing the pair of entropy-energy profiles are exemplified by Langevin simulations of a two-dimensional model system prototypical for force-induced biomolecular conformational changes. Connections to single-molecule experimental means to probe the functionals needed in the decomposition are suggested.
We review generalized Fluctuation-Dissipation Relations which are valid under general conditions even in ``non-standard systems, e.g. out of equilibrium and/or without a Hamiltonian structure. The response functions can be expressed in terms of suitable correlation functions computed in the unperperturbed dynamics. In these relations, typically one has nontrivial contributions due to the form of the stationary probability distribution; such terms take into account the interaction among the relevant degrees of freedom in the system. We illustrate the general formalism with some examples in non-standard cases, including driven granular media, systems with a multiscale structure, active matter and systems showing anomalous diffusion.
We study the behavior of stationary non-equilibrium two-body correlation functions for Diffusive Systems with equilibrium reference states (DSe). A DSe is described at the mesoscopic level by $M$ locally conserved continuum fields that evolve through coupled Langevin equations with white noises. The dynamic is designed such that the system may reach equilibrium states for a set of boundary conditions. In this form, just by changing the equilibrium boundary conditions, we make the system driven to a non-equilibrium stationary state. We decompose the correlations in a known local equilibrium part and another one that contains the non-equilibrium behavior and that we call {it correlations excess} $bar C(x,z)$. We formally derive the differential equations for $bar C$. We define a perturbative expansion around the equilibrium state to solve them order by order. We show that the $bar C$s first-order expansion, $bar C^{(1)}$, is always zero for the unique field case, $M=1$. Moreover $bar C^{(1)}$ is always long-range or zero when $M>1$. Surprisingly we show that their associated fluctuations, the space integrals of $bar C^{(1)}$, are always zero. Therefore, the fluctuations are dominated by the local equilibrium behavior up to second order in the perturbative expansion around the equilibrium. We derive the behaviors of $bar C^{(1)}$ in real space for dimensions $d=1$ and $2$ explicitly, and we apply the analysis to a generic $M=2$ case and, in particular, to a hydrodynamic model where we explicitly compute the two first perturbative orders, $bar C^{(1),(2)}$, and its associated fluctuations.
This study numerically and analytically investigates the dynamics of a rotor under viscous or dry friction as a non-equilibrium probe of a granular gas. In order to demonstrate the role of the rotor as a probe for a non-equilibrium bath, the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of the rotor is performed under viscous or dry friction surrounded by a steady granular gas under gravity. A one- to-one map between the velocity distribution function (VDF) of the granular gas and the angular distribution function for the rotor is theoretically derived. The MD simulation demonstrates that the one-to-one map accurately infers the local VDF of the granular gas from the angular VDF of the rotor, and vice versa.
An open question in the field of non-equilibrium statistical physics is whether there exists a unique way through which non-equilibrium systems equilibrate irrespective of how far they are away from equilibrium. To answer this question we have generated non-equilibrium states of various types of systems by molecular dynamics simulation technique. We have used a statistical method called system identification technique to understand the dynamical process of equilibration in reduced dimensional space. In this paper, we have tried to establish that the process of equilibration is unique.