2025/04/09 by Kristian Stølevik Olsen, Rémi Goerlich, Olsen, Kristian Stølevik +5 · 9 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #FOS: Physical sciences #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Micro and Nano Robotics #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2504.07049
openalex publication_date 2025/04/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
While optimal control theory offers effective strategies for minimizing energetic costs in noisy microscopic systems over finite durations, a significant opportunity lies in exploiting the temporal structure of non-equilibrium forces. We demonstrate this by presenting exact analytical forms for the optimal protocol and the corresponding work for any driving force and protocol duration. We also derive a general quasistatic bound on the work, relying only on the coarse-grained, time-integrated characteristics of the applied forces. Notably, we show that the optimal protocols often automatically act as information engines that harness information about non-equilibrium forces and an initial state measurement to extract work. These findings chart new directions for designing adaptive, energy-efficient strategies in noisy, time-dependent environments, as illustrated through our examples of periodic driving forces and active matter systems. By exploiting the temporal structure of non-equilibrium forces, this largely unexplored approach holds promise for substantial performance gains in microscopic devices operating at the nano- and microscale.