2016/03/31 by Patrick Pietzonka, Kevin Kleinbeck, Udo Seifert · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Brownian motion #Classical mechanics #Entropy (arrow of time) #Entropy production #Janus #Micro and Nano Robotics #Nanotechnology #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Statistical physics #Thermal #Thermal fluctuations #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech #physics.bio-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/18/5/052001
published as New J. Phys. 18 (2016) 052001
arxiv created 2016/05/03 · openalex publication_date 2016/05/03 · arxiv updated 2016/05/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
In active Brownian motion, an internal propulsion mechanism interacts with translational and rotational thermal noise and other internal fluctuations to produce directed motion. We derive the distribution of its extreme fluctuations and identify its universal properties using large deviation theory. The limits of slow and fast internal dynamics give rise to a kink-like and parabolic behavior of the corresponding rate functions, respectively. For dipolar Janus particles in two- and three-dimensions interacting with a field, we predict a novel symmetry akin to, but different from, the one related to entropy production. Measurements of these extreme fluctuations could thus be used to infer properties of the underlying, often hidden, network of states.