Irreversibility and dissipation in microscopic systems [electronic resource] / Édgar Roldán.

9783319070797 electronic book
3319070797 electronic book
9783319070780

Cham : Springer, 2014.

English

1 online resource (xxi, 211 pages) : illustrations (some color).

10.1007/978-3-319-07079-7 doi

QC318.I7

536.7

After an insightful introductory part on recent developments in the thermodynamics of small systems, the author presents his contribution to a long-standing problem, namely the connection between irreversibility and dissipation. He develops a method based on recent results on fluctuation theorems that is able to estimate dissipation using only information acquired in a single, sufficiently long, trajectory of a stationary nonequilibrium process. This part ends with a remarkable application of the method to the analysis of biological data, in this case, the fluctuations of a hair bundle. The third part studies the energetics of systems that undergo symmetry breaking transitions. These theoretical ideas lead to, among other things, an experimental realization of a Szilard engine using manipulated colloids. This work has the potential for important applications ranging from the analysis of biological media to the design of novel artificial nano-machines.

"Doctoral thesis accepted by Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain."

Includes bibliographical references.

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Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed June 25, 2014).

Springer theses.

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