Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 14: Focused Session: 50 years DY: Trends in dynamics and statistical physics

DY 14.3: Topical Talk

Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 11:00–11:30, HÜL 386

Non-equilibrium work and fluctuation theorems — •Andreas Engel — Institut für Physik, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Universität Oldenburg

The general theoretical description of systems driven violently away from thermal equilibrium is still an open problem. Whereas equilibrium situations are comprehensively characterized by a small number of general principles, and near-equilibrium processes can be modeled within the framework of linear-response theory the extreme diversity of phenomena occuring far from equilibrium has precluded a coherent theoretical description up to now.

Nevertheless, some simple, exact and general relations have been established recently which apply to systems driven arbitrarily far from equilibrium. These relations are by now referred to as fluctuation and work theorems respectively, and are in particular relevant for small systems with typical energy changes of the order of the thermal energy k_B T. They offer a fresh view on some classical problems in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, open interesting possibilities for further research, and have motivated new experimental techniques and numerical algorithms.

The talk gives a general introduction into the field of non-equilibrium work and fluctuation theorems and discusses some results and applications.