Abstract: What do the laws of thermodynamics look like, when applied to microscopic systems such as optically trapped colloidal particles, single molecules manipulated with laser tweezers, and biomolecular machines? In recent years it has become apparent that the fluctuations of small systems far from thermal equilibrium satisfy a number of strong and unexpected laws. In particular, a proper accounting of fluctuations allows us to rewrite familiar inequalities of macroscopic thermodynamics as equalities. I will describe some of this progress, and will argue that it has refined our understanding of the second law and the thermodynamic arrow of time.

About the Speaker: Professor Christopher Jarzynski’s research group focuses on statistical mechanics at the molecular level. They are particularly interested in the foundations of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, the application of statistical mechanics to problems of biophysical interest, the analysis of artificial molecular machines, and the development of efficient numerical schemes for estimating thermodynamic properties of complex system.

  

Date&Time: July 8, 2013 (Monday), 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. 
Location: 610 Meeting Room