Colloquium: Dr. Andre Barato, University of Houston

ABSTRACT:

Stochastic Thermodynamics is a theoretical framework that
generalizes standard thermodynamics to systems that can be small and far from equilibrium. Examples of such systems are biological molecules like molecular motors, artificial molecular pumps, colloidal particles, and small electronic systems. In this theory, thermodynamic quantities (e.g. heat and work) are defined at the level of single stochastic trajectories. The main result of the field is the fluctuation theorem, which is a symmetry on the probability distribution of a fluctuating entropy that implies the second law. We introduce the basic concepts of stochastic thermodynamics and discuss some of our results on the relation between thermodynamic cost and precision, which include the thermodynamic uncertainty relation. This universal relation establishes a minimal  energetic cost associated with the precision of an observable such as the output of chemical reaction (or any other generic thermodynamic flux). In simple words, an uncertainty of 1% has a minimal universal cost of 20.000 k_BT.