Entropy production and time asymmetry in nonequilibrium fluctuations.
The time-reversal symmetry of nonequilibrium fluctuations is experimentally investigated in two out-of-equilibrium systems: namely, a Brownian particle in a trap moving at constant speed and an electric circuit with an imposed mean current. The dynamical randomness of their nonequilibrium fluctuations is characterized in terms of the standard and time-reversed entropies per unit time of dynamical systems theory. We present experimental results showing that their difference equals the thermodynamic entropy production in units of Boltzmann's constant.
Andrieux
D
D
Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Code Postal 231, Campus Plaine, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Gaspard
P
P
Ciliberto
S
S
Garnier
N
N
Joubaud
S
S
Petrosyan
A
A