Gauge invariance and geometric phase in nonequilibrium thermodynamics

Abstract

We show the link between U1 lattice gauge theories and the off-equilibrium thermodynamics of a large class of nonlinear oscillators networks. The coupling between the oscillators plays the role of a gauge field, or connection, on the network. The thermodynamical forces that drive energy flows are expressed in terms of the curvature of the connection, analogous to a geometric phase. The model, which holds both close and far from equilibrium, predicts the existence of persistent energy and particle currents circulating in close loops through the network. The predictions are confirmed by numerical simulations. Possible extension of the theory and experimental applications to nanoscale devices are briefly discussed.

7 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Heat Transport in low-dimensional systems
• Asymmetric Spin-wave Dispersion on Fe(110): Direct Evidence of Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya Interaction
• The nonequilibrium discrete nonlinear Schroedinger equation
• Coherent energy transport in classical nonlinear oscillators: an analogy with the Josephson effect

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Modelling Reservoir Computing with the Discrete Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation
• Entropy production for complex Langevin equations
• Nanoscale control of heat and spin conductance in artificial spin chains
• Geometric quantum thermodynamics: A fibre bundle approach
• Stochastic Thermodynamics of oscillators networks