title: Stochastic thermodynamics of a tagged particle within a harmonic chain.
abstract: We study the stochastic thermodynamics of an overdamped harmonic chain, which can be viewed equivalently as a one-dimensional Rouse chain or as an approximate model of single file diffusion. We discuss mainly two levels of description of this system: the Markovian level for which the trajectories of all the particles of the chain are known and the non-Markovian level in which only the motion of a tagged particle is available. For each case, we analyze the energy dissipation and its dependence on initial conditions. Surprisingly, we find that the average coarse-grained entropy production rate can become transiently negative when an oscillating force is applied to the tagged particle. This occurs due to memory effects as shown in a framework based on path integrals or on a generalized Langevin equation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Théorique - UMR CNRS Gulliver 7083, PSL Research University, ESPCI, 10 rue Vauquelin, F-75231 Paris, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lacoste
authors.affiliation: MEMPHYS-Center for Biomembrane Physics, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lomholt
mesh_terms: D004058:Diffusion; D017276:Friction; D008390:Markov Chains; D008956:Models, Chemical; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D013816:Thermodynamics