Mesoscopic non-equilibrium thermodynamics

摘要

Autonomous microsystems, such as biomolecules, molecular motors, nanomotors, and active particles, are functionally dependent on nanoscale energy conversion mechanisms. The non-equilibrium processes taking place in those systems are strongly influenced by the presence of fluctuations. Contributions to the free energy that vanish in the infinite particle number limit cannot be neglected and may exert an important influence in the dynamics of the system. We show that, in spite of these features, non-equilibrium thermodynamics applies. A rigorous theoretical foundation that accounts for the statistical nature of mesoscale systems over short time scales, "mesoscopic non-equilibrium thermodynamics", is currently being developed and offers a promising framework for interpreting future experiments in chemistry and biochemistry.