Control of active field theories at minimal dissipation

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Soriani, Artur, Tjhung, Elsen, Fodor, Étienne, Markovich, Tomer
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Soriani, Artur
Tjhung, Elsen
Fodor, Étienne
Markovich, Tomer
author_facet Soriani, Artur
Tjhung, Elsen
Fodor, Étienne
Markovich, Tomer
contents Advances in experimental techniques enable the precise manipulation of a large variety of active systems, which constantly dissipate energy to sustain nonequilibrium phenomena without any equilibrium equivalent. To design novel materials out of active systems, an outstanding challenge is to rationalize how material properties can be optimally controlled by applying external perturbations. However, equilibrium thermodynamics is inadequate to guide the control of such nonequilibrium systems. Therefore, there is a dire need for a novel framework to provide a systematic toolbox for the thermodynamic control of active matter. Here, we build an optimization procedure for generic active field theories within a thermodynamically consistent formulation. Central to our approach is the distinction between the protocol heat, which is dissipated only during manipulation, and the total heat, which also accounts for the post-manipulation dissipation. We demonstrate that the latter generically features a global minimum with respect to the protocol duration. We deploy our versatile approach to an active theory of phase separation, and examine the scalings of the optimal protocol duration with respect to activity and system size. Remarkably, we reveal that the landscape of steady-state dissipation regulates the crossover between optimal control strategies for a finite duration.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_19285
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Control of active field theories at minimal dissipation
Soriani, Artur
Tjhung, Elsen
Fodor, Étienne
Markovich, Tomer
Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
Advances in experimental techniques enable the precise manipulation of a large variety of active systems, which constantly dissipate energy to sustain nonequilibrium phenomena without any equilibrium equivalent. To design novel materials out of active systems, an outstanding challenge is to rationalize how material properties can be optimally controlled by applying external perturbations. However, equilibrium thermodynamics is inadequate to guide the control of such nonequilibrium systems. Therefore, there is a dire need for a novel framework to provide a systematic toolbox for the thermodynamic control of active matter. Here, we build an optimization procedure for generic active field theories within a thermodynamically consistent formulation. Central to our approach is the distinction between the protocol heat, which is dissipated only during manipulation, and the total heat, which also accounts for the post-manipulation dissipation. We demonstrate that the latter generically features a global minimum with respect to the protocol duration. We deploy our versatile approach to an active theory of phase separation, and examine the scalings of the optimal protocol duration with respect to activity and system size. Remarkably, we reveal that the landscape of steady-state dissipation regulates the crossover between optimal control strategies for a finite duration.
title Control of active field theories at minimal dissipation
topic Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.19285