Issue 19, 2015

Detecting temperature fluctuations at equilibrium

Abstract

The Gibbs and the Boltzmann definition of temperature agree only in the macroscopic limit. The ambiguity in identifying the equilibrium temperature of a finite-sized ‘small’ system exchanging energy with a bath is usually understood as a limitation of conventional statistical mechanics. We interpret this ambiguity as resulting from a stochastically fluctuating temperature coupled with the phase space variables giving rise to a broad temperature distribution. With this ansatz, we develop the equilibrium statistics and dynamics of small systems. Numerical evidence using an analytically tractable model shows that the effects of temperature fluctuations can be detected in the equilibrium and dynamical properties of the phase space of the small system. Our theory generalizes statistical mechanics to small systems relevant in biophysics and nanotechnology.

Graphical abstract: Detecting temperature fluctuations at equilibrium

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Mar 2015
Accepted
15 Apr 2015
First published
16 Apr 2015

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015,17, 13000-13005

Author version available

Detecting temperature fluctuations at equilibrium

P. D. Dixit, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015, 17, 13000 DOI: 10.1039/C5CP01423A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements