2020/09/30 by Steven J. Large, Steven J Large, David A. Sivak +1
Chemistry · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Complex system #Energy (signal processing) #Energy flow #Flow (mathematics) #Nanopore and Nanochannel Transport Studies #Non-equilibrium thermodynamics #Phenomenological model #Power (physics) #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/0295-5075/133/10003
published as EPL, 133, 10003 (2021) · 14 pages, 3 figures
openalex created_date 2020/09/21 · openalex publication_date 2021/01/01 · arxiv created 2021/03/11 · arxiv updated 2021/03/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract Quantifying the flow of energy within and through fluctuating nanoscale systems poses a significant challenge to understanding microscopic biological machines. A common approach involves coarse graining, which allows a simplified description of such systems. This has the side effect of inducing so-called hidden contributions (due to sub-resolution dynamics) that complicate the resulting thermodynamics. Here we develop a thermodynamically consistent theory describing the nonequilibrium excess power internal to autonomous systems, and introduce a phenomenological framework to quantify the hidden excess power associated with their operation. We confirm our theoretical predictions in numerical simulations of a minimal model for both a molecular transport motor and a rotary motor.