Consistent thermodynamics reconstructed from transitions between nonequilibrium steady-states
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866908750273576960 |
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| author | Goerlich, Rémi Sorkin, Benjamin Boriskovsky, Dima Pires, Luís B Lindner, Benjamin Genet, Cyriaque Roichman, Yael |
| author_facet | Goerlich, Rémi Sorkin, Benjamin Boriskovsky, Dima Pires, Luís B Lindner, Benjamin Genet, Cyriaque Roichman, Yael |
| contents | Constructing a thermodynamic framework for nonequilibrium systems remains a major challenge, as quantities such as temperature and free energy often become ambiguous when inferred solely from steady-state properties. Here we take a transformation-based approach and experimentally examine transitions between nonequilibrium steady states (NESS). Using an optically trapped microparticle driven by a tunable correlated stochastic force, we generate active-like steady states with controllable noise statistics. By abruptly changing the trap stiffness, we measure the stochastic work, heat, and entropy produced during NESS-to-NESS transformations. We identify a state-dependent effective temperature that restores the second law for these transitions, enabling the definition of a generalized work that incorporates the consequence of the nonequilibrium fluctuations. With this quantity, we derive and experimentally verify a Crooks-like fluctuation relation linking work distributions to a nonequilibrium free-energy difference defined through the effective temperature. Finally, we establish a fluctuation-response relation for the positional variance following stiffness changes. We demonstrate that this relation is key to distinguishing systems that can be described by a unique effective temperature (i.e., those under equilibrium or white-noise conditions) from those under colored-noise, where an equilibrium-like response cannot be restored. These results delineate the applicability and limits of effective-temperature thermodynamics in driven systems. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_03245 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Consistent thermodynamics reconstructed from transitions between nonequilibrium steady-states Goerlich, Rémi Sorkin, Benjamin Boriskovsky, Dima Pires, Luís B Lindner, Benjamin Genet, Cyriaque Roichman, Yael Statistical Mechanics Soft Condensed Matter Constructing a thermodynamic framework for nonequilibrium systems remains a major challenge, as quantities such as temperature and free energy often become ambiguous when inferred solely from steady-state properties. Here we take a transformation-based approach and experimentally examine transitions between nonequilibrium steady states (NESS). Using an optically trapped microparticle driven by a tunable correlated stochastic force, we generate active-like steady states with controllable noise statistics. By abruptly changing the trap stiffness, we measure the stochastic work, heat, and entropy produced during NESS-to-NESS transformations. We identify a state-dependent effective temperature that restores the second law for these transitions, enabling the definition of a generalized work that incorporates the consequence of the nonequilibrium fluctuations. With this quantity, we derive and experimentally verify a Crooks-like fluctuation relation linking work distributions to a nonequilibrium free-energy difference defined through the effective temperature. Finally, we establish a fluctuation-response relation for the positional variance following stiffness changes. We demonstrate that this relation is key to distinguishing systems that can be described by a unique effective temperature (i.e., those under equilibrium or white-noise conditions) from those under colored-noise, where an equilibrium-like response cannot be restored. These results delineate the applicability and limits of effective-temperature thermodynamics in driven systems. |
| title | Consistent thermodynamics reconstructed from transitions between nonequilibrium steady-states |
| topic | Statistical Mechanics Soft Condensed Matter |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03245 |