Hydrodynamics and the fluctuation theorem

Abstract

The fluctuation theorem is a pivotal result of statistical physics. It quantifies the probability of observing fluctuations which are in violation of the second law of thermodynamics. More specifically, it quantifies the ratio of the probabilities of observing entropy-producing and entropy-consuming fluctuations measured over a finite volume and time span in terms of the rate of entropy production in the system, the measurement volume and time. We study the fluctuation theorem in computer simulations of planar shear flow. The simulations are performed employing the method of multiparticle collision dynamics which captures both thermal fluctuations and hydrodynamic interactions. The main outcome of our analysis is that the fluctuation theorem is verified at any averaging time provided that the measurement volume exhibits a specific dependence on a hydrodynamic time scale.

4 pages, 3 figures, to appear on Physical Review Letters

References in corpus (3)

• Hydrodynamic interactions and Brownian forces in colloidal suspensions: Coarse-graining over time and length-scales
• Work fluctuation theorems for harmonic oscillators
• Fluctuations in out of equilibrium systems: from theory to experiment

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Stochastic thermodynamics, fluctuation theorems, and molecular machines
• Multi-particle collision simulations of 2D one-component plasmas: anomalous transport and dimensional crossovers
• Backtracking of colloids: a multiparticle collision dynamics simulation study
• Anomalous dynamical scaling in anharmonic chains and plasma models with multiparticle collisions
• A generalized fluctuation relation for power-law distributions
• Hydrodynamic correlations in shear flow: A Multiparticle--Collision--Dynamics simulation study
• Fluctuation relations with intermittent non-Gaussian variables
• Force fluctuations in stretching a tethered polymer