title: Experimental demonstration of violations of the second law of thermodynamics for small systems and short time scales.
abstract: We experimentally demonstrate the fluctuation theorem, which predicts appreciable and measurable violations of the second law of thermodynamics for small systems over short time scales, by following the trajectory of a colloidal particle captured in an optical trap that is translated relative to surrounding water molecules. From each particle trajectory, we calculate the entropy production/consumption over the duration of the trajectory and determine the fraction of second law-defying trajectories. Our results show entropy consumption can occur over colloidal length and time scales.
authors.affiliation: Research School of Chemistry, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Sevick
authors.forename: Emil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mittag
authors.forename: Debra J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Searles
authors.forename: Denis J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Evans