Asymmetric thermal relaxation in driven systems: Rotations go opposite ways
It was predicted and recently experimentally confirmed that systems with microscopically reversible dynamics in quadratic potentials warm up faster than they cool down. This thermal relaxation asymmetry challenged our understanding of relaxation far from equilibrium. Because the intuition and proof...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Physical Review Research |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L042030 |
| _version_ | 1797210317897334784 |
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| author | Cai Dieball Gerrit Wellecke Aljaž Godec |
| author_facet | Cai Dieball Gerrit Wellecke Aljaž Godec |
| author_sort | Cai Dieball |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It was predicted and recently experimentally confirmed that systems with microscopically reversible dynamics in quadratic potentials warm up faster than they cool down. This thermal relaxation asymmetry challenged our understanding of relaxation far from equilibrium. Because the intuition and proof hinged on the dynamics obeying detailed balance, it was not clear whether the asymmetry persists in systems with irreversible dynamics. To fill this gap, we here prove the relaxation asymmetry for systems driven out of equilibrium by a general linear drift. The asymmetry persists due to a nontrivial isomorphism between driven and reversible processes. Moreover, rotations of level sets of probability densities emerge that, strikingly, occur in opposite directions during heating and cooling. This highlights that noisy systems do not relax by passing through local equilibria. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:08:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-80c843ce0bfe42a1b3d7590690d65858 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2643-1564 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:08:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-80c843ce0bfe42a1b3d7590690d658582024-04-12T17:36:13ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642023-11-0154L04203010.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L042030Asymmetric thermal relaxation in driven systems: Rotations go opposite waysCai DieballGerrit WelleckeAljaž GodecIt was predicted and recently experimentally confirmed that systems with microscopically reversible dynamics in quadratic potentials warm up faster than they cool down. This thermal relaxation asymmetry challenged our understanding of relaxation far from equilibrium. Because the intuition and proof hinged on the dynamics obeying detailed balance, it was not clear whether the asymmetry persists in systems with irreversible dynamics. To fill this gap, we here prove the relaxation asymmetry for systems driven out of equilibrium by a general linear drift. The asymmetry persists due to a nontrivial isomorphism between driven and reversible processes. Moreover, rotations of level sets of probability densities emerge that, strikingly, occur in opposite directions during heating and cooling. This highlights that noisy systems do not relax by passing through local equilibria.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L042030 |
| spellingShingle | Cai Dieball Gerrit Wellecke Aljaž Godec Asymmetric thermal relaxation in driven systems: Rotations go opposite ways Physical Review Research |
| title | Asymmetric thermal relaxation in driven systems: Rotations go opposite ways |
| title_full | Asymmetric thermal relaxation in driven systems: Rotations go opposite ways |
| title_fullStr | Asymmetric thermal relaxation in driven systems: Rotations go opposite ways |
| title_full_unstemmed | Asymmetric thermal relaxation in driven systems: Rotations go opposite ways |
| title_short | Asymmetric thermal relaxation in driven systems: Rotations go opposite ways |
| title_sort | asymmetric thermal relaxation in driven systems rotations go opposite ways |
| url | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L042030 |
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