Bringing calorimetry (back) to life

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Khodabandehlou, Faezeh, Maes, Christian, Roldán, Édgar
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Khodabandehlou, Faezeh
Maes, Christian
Roldán, Édgar
author_facet Khodabandehlou, Faezeh
Maes, Christian
Roldán, Édgar
contents Micro-calorimetry offers significant potential as a quantitative method for studying the structure and function of biological systems, for instance, by probing the excess heat released by cellular or sub-cellular structures, isothermal or not, when external parameters change. We present the conceptual framework of nonequilibrium calorimetry, and as illustrations, we compute the heat capacity of biophysical models with few degrees of freedom related to ciliar motion (rowing model) and molecular motor motion (flashing ratchets). Our quantitative predictions reveal intriguing dependencies of the (nonequilibrium) heat capacity as a function of relevant biophysical parameters, which can even take negative values as a result of biological activity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_15127
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Bringing calorimetry (back) to life
Khodabandehlou, Faezeh
Maes, Christian
Roldán, Édgar
Biological Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Micro-calorimetry offers significant potential as a quantitative method for studying the structure and function of biological systems, for instance, by probing the excess heat released by cellular or sub-cellular structures, isothermal or not, when external parameters change. We present the conceptual framework of nonequilibrium calorimetry, and as illustrations, we compute the heat capacity of biophysical models with few degrees of freedom related to ciliar motion (rowing model) and molecular motor motion (flashing ratchets). Our quantitative predictions reveal intriguing dependencies of the (nonequilibrium) heat capacity as a function of relevant biophysical parameters, which can even take negative values as a result of biological activity.
title Bringing calorimetry (back) to life
topic Biological Physics
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.15127