Work probability distribution in single-molecule experiments

2004/11/29 by Alberto Imparato, A Imparato, Luca Peliti +1 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech #stochastic dynamics and bifurcation

paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/epl/i2004-10390-3

published as Europhys. Lett., 69 (4), 643-649 (2005). · To appear on EPL

arxiv created 2004/11/29 · openalex publication_date 2005/01/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

We derive and solve a differential equation satisfied by the probability distribution of the work done on a single biomolecule in a mechanical unzipping experiment. The unzipping is described as a thermally activated escape process in an energy landscape. The Jarzynski equality is recovered as an identity, independent of the pulling protocol. This approach allows one to easily evaluate, by numerical integration, the work distribution, once a few parameters of the energy landscape are known.

Citations

• Equilibrium free energy differences from nonequilibrium measurements: a master equation approach

Cited by

• Work distribution for the adiabatic compression of a dilute and interacting classical gas
• Thermodynamics of a Colloidal Particle in a Time-Dependent Nonharmonic Potential
• Work and heat probability distributions in out-of-equilibrium systems
• Entropy Production for Mechanically or Chemically Driven Biomolecules

Related

• Work Distribution for Unzipping Processes
• Arrow of time and non-Markovianity in the non equilibrium folding/unfolding of alanine decapeptide in vacuo
• Potential Fluctuation Equality for Free Energy Evaluation
• Machines of life: catalogue, stochastic process modeling, probabilistic reverse engineering and the PIs- from Aristotle to Alberts
• Nonequilibrium Work Fluctuations in Force-induced Melting of a Short B-DNA