Quantifying nonequilibrium dynamics of stochastic systems with partial information
Abstract
Far-from-equilibrium processes constantly dissipate energy while converting a free-energy source to another form of energy. Living systems, for example, rely on an orchestra of molecular motors that consume chemical fuel to produce mechanical work. Drawing inspiration from biology, where the underlying nonequilibrium activity gives rise to a plethora of emergent collective phenomena such as adaptation, pattern-formation, prediction, self-replication, decision-making, computation, etc., we strive to capture their mechanistic essence in order to mimic life-like behavior in synthetic systems. Estimating the amount of the free energy budget lost to dissipation is crucial for a deeper understanding of the underlying nonequilibrium dynamics of driven systems, aiming for general design principles for biomimicking custom-made systems. Although there are theoretical tools for detecting and quantifying nonequilibrium activity and dissipation in the framework of stochastic thermodynamics, these mostly rely on a detailed description of the microscopic dynamics. Hence, there is a growing gap between these analytical calculations and their experimental applicability. The difficulty stems from the limited accessibility to the myriad degrees of freedom of complex systems and the finite measurement resolution, which can mask the footprints of nonequilibrium dynamics such that they appear as passive thermal fluctuations. My goal is to develop a new toolkit for studying nonequilibrium systems with complex network structures and many degrees of freedom. I will advance theoretical tools for estimating the dissipation from partial information based on an approach I have pioneered for detecting time-- irreversibility from asymmetry in waiting time distributions for discrete sets of states. I will use tools of stochastic thermodynamics to derive entropy production bounds for continuous variables and study the effects of coarse-graining using numerical simulations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 03, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1230619
Entities
People
- Gili Bisker
Organizations
- Tel Aviv University