No Arabic abstract
During a spontaneous change, a macroscopic physical system will evolve towards a macro-state with more realizations. This observation is at the basis of the Statistical Mechanical version of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and it provides an interpretation of entropy in terms of probabilities. However, we cannot rely on the statistical-mechanical expressions for entropy in systems that are far from equilibrium. In this paper, we compare various extensions of the definition of entropy, which have been proposed for non-equilibrium systems. It has recently been proposed that measures of information density may serve to quantify entropy in both equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems. We propose a new bit-wise method to measure the information density for off lattice systems. This method does not rely on coarse-graining of the particle coordinates. We then compare different estimates of the system entropy, based on information density and on the structural properties of the system, and check if the various entropies are mutually consistent and, importantly, whether they can detect non-trivial ordering phenomena. We find that, except for simple (one-dimensional) cases, the different methods yield answers that are at best qualitatively similar, and often not even that, although in several cases, different entropy estimates do detect ordering phenomena qualitatively. Our entropy estimates based on bit-wise data compression contain no adjustable scaling factor, and show large quantitative differences with the thermodynamic entropy obtained from equilibrium simulations. Hence, our results suggest that, at present, there is not yet a single, structure-based entropy definition that has general validity for equilibrium and non equilibrium systems.
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 use fluctuating hydrodynamics to analyze the dynamical properties in the non-equilibrium steady state of a diffusive system coupled with reservoirs. We derive the two-time correlations of the density and of the current in the hydrodynamic limit in terms of the diffusivity and the mobility. Within this hydrodynamic framework we discuss a generalization of the fluctuation dissipation relation in a non-equilibrium steady state where the response function is expressed in terms of the two-time correlations. We compare our results to an exact solution of the symmetric exclusion process. This exact solution also allows one to directly verify the fluctuating hydrodynamics equation.
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.
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.
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.