Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: We experimentally study the fluctuations of the work done by an external Gaussian random force on two different stochastic systems coupled to a thermal bath: a colloidal particle in an optical trap and an atomic-force microscopy cantilever. We determine the corresponding probability density functions for different random forcing amplitudes ranging from a small fraction to several times the amplitude of the thermal noise. In both systems for sufficiently weak forcing amplitudes the work fluctuations satisfy the usual steady-state fluctuation theorem. As the forcing amplitude drives the system far from equilibrium, deviations of the fluctuation theorem increase monotonically. The deviations can be recasted to a single master curve which only depends on the kind of stochastic external force.
Source: Europhysics Letters (EPL)
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2045468830