Velocity Multistability vs. Ergodicity Breaking in a Biased Periodic Potential.

Multistability, i.e., the coexistence of several attractors for a given set of system parameters, is one of the most important phenomena occurring in dynamical systems. We consider it in the velocity dynamics of a Brownian particle, driven by thermal fluctuations and moving in a biased periodic potential. In doing so, we focus on the impact of ergodicity-A concept which lies at the core of statistical mechanics. The latter implies that a single trajectory of the system is representative for the whole ensemble and, as a consequence, the initial conditions of the dynamics are fully forgotten. The ergodicity of the deterministic counterpart is strongly broken, and we discuss how the velocity multistability depends on the starting position and velocity of the particle. While for non-zero temperatures the ergodicity is, in principle, restored, in the low temperature regime the velocity dynamics is still affected by initial conditions due to weak ergodicity breaking. For moderate and high temperatures, the multistability is robust with respect to the choice of the starting position and velocity of the particle.

Diffusion Coefficient of a Brownian Particle in Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium: Einstein Model and Beyond.

The diffusion of small particles is omnipresent in many processes occurring in nature. As such, it is widely studied and exerted in almost all branches of sciences. It constitutes such a broad and often rather complex subject of exploration that we opt here to narrow our survey to the case of the diffusion coefficient for a Brownian particle that can be modeled in the framework of Langevin dynamics. Our main focus centers on the temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient for several fundamental models of diverse physical systems. Starting out with diffusion in equilibrium for which the Einstein theory holds, we consider a number of physical situations outside of free Brownian motion and end by surveying nonequilibrium diffusion for a time-periodically driven Brownian particle dwelling randomly in a periodic potential. For this latter situation the diffusion coefficient exhibits an intriguingly non-monotonic dependence on temperature.

Hydrodynamic and entropic effects on colloidal diffusion in corrugated channels.

In the absence of advection, confined diffusion characterizes transport in many natural and artificial devices, such as ionic channels, zeolites, and nanopores. While extensive theoretical and numerical studies on this subject have produced many important predictions, experimental verifications of the predictions are rare. Here, we experimentally measure colloidal diffusion times in microchannels with periodically varying width and contrast results with predictions from the Fick-Jacobs theory and Brownian dynamics simulation. While the theory and simulation correctly predict the entropic effect of the varying channel width, they fail to account for hydrodynamic effects, which include both an overall decrease and a spatial variation of diffusivity in channels. Neglecting such hydrodynamic effects, the theory and simulation underestimate the mean and standard deviation of first passage times by 40% in channels with a neck width twice the particle diameter. We further show that the validity of the Fick-Jacobs theory can be restored by reformulating it in terms of the experimentally measured diffusivity. Our work thus shows that hydrodynamic effects play a key role in diffusive transport through narrow channels and should be included in theoretical and numerical models.

Quasi-stationary states of game-driven systems: A dynamical approach.

Evolutionary game theory is a framework to formalize the evolution of collectives ("populations") of competing agents that are playing a game and, after every round, update their strategies to maximize individual payoffs. There are two complementary approaches to modeling evolution of player populations. The first addresses essentially finite populations by implementing the apparatus of Markov chains. The second assumes that the populations are infinite and operates with a system of mean-field deterministic differential equations. By using a model of two antagonistic populations, which are playing a game with stationary or periodically varying payoffs, we demonstrate that it exhibits metastable dynamics that is reducible neither to an immediate transition to a fixation (extinction of all but one strategy in a finite-size population) nor to the mean-field picture. In the case of stationary payoffs, this dynamics can be captured with a system of stochastic differential equations and interpreted as a stochastic Hopf bifurcation. In the case of varying payoffs, the metastable dynamics is much more complex than the dynamics of the means.

Meaning of temperature in different thermostatistical ensembles.

Depending on the exact experimental conditions, the thermodynamic properties of physical systems can be related to one or more thermostatistical ensembles. Here, we survey the notion of thermodynamic temperature in different statistical ensembles, focusing in particular on subtleties that arise when ensembles become non-equivalent. The 'mother' of all ensembles, the microcanonical ensemble, uses entropy and internal energy (the most fundamental, dynamically conserved quantity) to derive temperature as a secondary thermodynamic variable. Over the past century, some confusion has been caused by the fact that several competing microcanonical entropy definitions are used in the literature, most commonly the volume and surface entropies introduced by Gibbs. It can be proved, however, that only the volume entropy satisfies exactly the traditional form of the laws of thermodynamics for a broad class of physical systems, including all standard classical Hamiltonian systems, regardless of their size. This mathematically rigorous fact implies that negative 'absolute' temperatures and Carnot efficiencies more than 1 are not achievable within a standard thermodynamical framework. As an important offspring of microcanonical thermostatistics, we shall briefly consider the canonical ensemble and comment on the validity of the Boltzmann weight factor. We conclude by addressing open mathematical problems that arise for systems with discrete energy spectra.

Non-normalizable densities in strong anomalous diffusion: beyond the central limit theorem.

Strong anomalous diffusion, where ⟨|x(t)|(q)⟩ ∼ tqν(q) with a nonlinear spectrum ν(q) ≠ const, is wide spread and has been found in various nonlinear dynamical systems and experiments on active transport in living cells. Using a stochastic approach we show how this phenomenon is related to infinite covariant densities; i.e., the asymptotic states of these systems are described by non-normalizable distribution functions. Our work shows that the concept of infinite covariant densities plays an important role in the statistical description of open systems exhibiting multifractal anomalous diffusion, as it is complementary to the central limit theorem.

Anomalous heat diffusion.

Consider anomalous energy spread in solid phases, i.e., <Δx(2)(t)>E≡∫(x-E)(2)ρE(x,t)dx∝t(ß), as induced by a small initial excess energy perturbation distribution ρE(x,t=0) away from equilibrium. The second derivative of this variance of the nonequilibrium excess energy distribution is shown to rigorously obey the intriguing relation d(2)<Δx(2)(t)>E/dt2=2CJJ(t)/(kBT(2)c), where CJJ(t) equals the thermal equilibrium total heat flux autocorrelation function and c is the specific volumetric heat capacity. Its integral assumes a time-local Helfand-like relation. Given that the averaged nonequilibrium heat flux is governed by an anomalous heat conductivity, the energy diffusion scaling determines a corresponding anomalous thermal conductivity scaling behavior.

Tuning the mobility of a driven Bose-Einstein condensate via diabatic Floquet bands.

We study the response of ultracold atoms to a weak force in the presence of a temporally strongly modulated optical lattice potential. It is experimentally demonstrated that the strong ac driving allows for a tailoring of the mobility of a dilute atomic Bose-Einstein condensate with the atoms moving ballistically either along or against the direction of the applied force. Our results are in agreement with a theoretical analysis of the Floquet spectrum of a model system, thus revealing the existence of diabatic Floquet bands in the atoms' band spectra and highlighting their role in the nonequilibrium transport of the atoms.

Current resonances in graphene with time-dependent potential barriers.

A method is derived to solve the massless Dirac-Weyl equation describing electron transport in a monolayer of graphene with a scalar potential barrier U(x,t), homogeneous in the y direction, of arbitrary space and time dependence. Resonant enhancement of both electron backscattering and currents, across and along the barrier, is predicted when the modulation frequencies satisfy certain resonance conditions. These conditions resemble those for Shapiro steps of driven Josephson junctions. Surprisingly, we find a nonzero y component of the current for carriers of zero momentum along the y-axis.

Logarithmic oscillators: ideal Hamiltonian thermostats.

A logarithmic oscillator (in short, log-oscillator) behaves like an ideal thermostat because of its infinite heat capacity: When it weakly couples to another system, time averages of the system observables agree with ensemble averages from a Gibbs distribution with a temperature T that is given by the strength of the logarithmic potential. The resulting equations of motion are Hamiltonian and may be implemented not only in a computer but also with real-world experiments, e.g., with cold atoms.

Generalized Gibbs state with modified Redfield solution: exact agreement up to second order.

A novel scheme for the steady state solution of the standard Redfield quantum master equation is developed which yields agreement with the exact result for the corresponding reduced density matrix up to second order in the system-bath coupling strength. We achieve this objective by use of an analytic continuation of the off-diagonal matrix elements of the Redfield solution towards its diagonal limit. Notably, our scheme does not require the provision of yet higher order relaxation tensors. Testing this modified method for a heat bath consisting of a collection of harmonic oscillators we assess that the system relaxes towards its correct coupling-dependent, generalized quantum Gibbs state in second order. We numerically compare our formulation for a damped quantum harmonic system with the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism: we find good agreement at low temperatures for coupling strengths that are even larger than expected from the very regime of validity of the second-order Redfield quantum master equation. Yet another advantage of our method is that it markedly reduces the numerical complexity of the problem; thus, allowing to study efficiently large-sized system Hilbert spaces.

Thermodynamics of d-dimensional hard sphere fluids confined to micropores.

We derive an analytical expression of the second virial coefficient of d-dimensional hard sphere fluids confined to slit pores by applying Speedy and Reiss' interpretation of cavity space. We confirm that this coefficient is identical to the one obtained from the Mayer cluster expansion up to second order with respect to fugacity. The key step of both approaches is to evaluate either the surface area or the volume of the d-dimensional exclusion sphere confined to a slit pore. We, further, present an analytical form of thermodynamic functions such as entropy and pressure tensor as a function of the size of the slit pore. Molecular dynamics simulations are performed for d = 2 and d = 3, and the results are compared with analytically obtained equations of state. They agree satisfactorily in the low density regime, and, for given density, the agreement of the results becomes excellent as the width of the slit pore gets smaller, because the higher order virial coefficients become unimportant.

Spatially resolved ballistic optoelectronic transport measured by quantized photocurrent spectroscopy.

GaAs-based quantum point contacts (QPCs) are exploited to spatially resolve and analyze the ballistic, nonequilibrium flow of photogenerated electrons in a nanoscale circuit. Electron-hole pairs are photogenerated in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), and the resulting current through an adjacent QPC is measured as a function of the laser spot position. The transmission of photogenerated electrons through the QPC is governed by the energy dispersion and the quantized momentum values of the electron modes in the QPC.

Fluctuation theorems for continuously monitored quantum fluxes.

It is shown that quantum fluctuation theorems remain unaffected if measurements of any kind and number of observables are performed during the action of a force protocol. That is, although the backward and forward probabilities entering the fluctuation theorems are both altered by these measurements, their ratio remains unchanged. This observation allows us to describe the measurement of fluxes through interfaces and, in this way, to bridge the gap between the current theory, based on only two measurements performed at the beginning and end of the protocol, and experiments that are based on continuous monitoring.

Berry-phase-induced heat pumping and its impact on the fluctuation theorem.

Applying adiabatic, cyclic two-parameter modulations we investigate quantum heat transfer across an anharmonic molecular junction contacted with two heat baths. We demonstrate that the pumped heat typically exhibits a Berry-phase effect in providing an additional geometric contribution to heat flux. Remarkably, a robust fractional quantized geometric phonon response is identified as well. The presence of this geometric phase contribution in turn causes a breakdown of the fluctuation theorem of the Gallavotti-Cohen type for quantum heat transfer. This can be restored only if (i) the geometric phase contribution vanishes and if (ii) the cyclic protocol preserves the detailed balance symmetry.

Comment on "Measurability of nonequilibrium thermodynamics in terms of the Hamiltonian of mean force".

In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. E 101, 050101(R) (2020)PREHBM2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.101.050101] an attempt is presented to formulate the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of an open system in terms of the Hamiltonian of mean force. The purpose of the present comment is to clarify severe restrictions of this approach and to stress that recently noted ambiguities [Phys. Rev. E 94, 022143 (2016)PREHBM2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.94.022143] of fluctuating thermodynamic potentials cannot be removed in the suggested way.

Diffusion in confined geometries.

Diffusive transport of particles or, more generally, small objects, is a ubiquitous feature of physical and chemical reaction systems. In configurations containing confining walls or constrictions, transport is controlled both by the fluctuation statistics of the jittering objects and the phase space available to their dynamics. Consequently, the study of transport at the macro- and nanoscales must address both Brownian motion and entropic effects. Herein we report on recent advances in the theoretical and numerical investigation of stochastic transport occurring either in microsized geometries of varying cross sections or in narrow channels wherein the diffusing particles are hindered from passing each other (single-file diffusion). For particles undergoing biased diffusion in static suspension media enclosed by confining geometries, transport exhibits intriguing features such as 1) a decrease in nonlinear mobility with increasing temperature or also 2) a broad excess peak of the effective diffusion above the free diffusion limit. These paradoxical aspects can be understood in terms of entropic contributions resulting from the restricted dynamics in phase space. If, in addition, the suspension medium is subjected to external, time-dependent forcing, rectification or segregation of the diffusing Brownian particles becomes possible. Likewise, the diffusion in very narrow, spatially modulated channels is modified via contact particle-particle interactions, which induce anomalous sub-diffusion. The effective sub-diffusion constant for a driven single file also develops a resonance-like structure as a function of the confining coupling constant.

Time parameters and Lorentz transformations of relativistic stochastic processes.

Rules for the transformation of time parameters in relativistic Langevin equations are derived and discussed. In particular, it is shown that, if a coordinate-time-parametrized process approaches the relativistic Jüttner-Maxwell distribution, the associated proper-time-parametrized process converges to a modified momentum distribution, differing by a factor proportional to the inverse energy.

Specific heat anomalies of open quantum systems.

The evaluation of the specific heat of an open damped quantum system is a subtle issue. One possible route is based on the thermodynamic partition function which is the ratio of the partition functions of system plus bath and of the bath alone. For the free damped particle it has been shown, however, that the ensuing specific heat may become negative for appropriately chosen environments. Being an open system this quantity then naturally must be interpreted as the change in the specific heat obtained as the difference between the specific heat of the heat bath coupled to the system degrees of freedom and the specific heat of the bath alone. While this difference may become negative, the involved specific heats themselves are always positive; thus, the known thermodynamic stability criteria are perfectly guaranteed. For a damped quantum harmonic oscillator, instead of negative values, under appropriate conditions one can observe a dip in the difference of specific heats as a function of temperature. Stylized minimal models containing a single oscillator heat bath are employed to elucidate the occurrence of the anomalous temperature dependence of the corresponding specific heat values. Moreover, we comment on the consequences for the interpretation of the density of states based on the thermal partition function.