arXiv subjects

Aaron Beyen

Publications and source records attributed to Aaron Beyen.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

An agitated oscillator chain

We study how the stationary dynamics of an oscillator chain is modified when coupled to a bath of run-and-tumble particles. First, assuming time-scale separation, we derive the induced Langevin chain dynamics with explicit expressions for the streaming term, friction coefficient, and noise amplitude. At high persistence of the run-and-tumble particle bath, the linear friction turns negative, creating an instability. Second, we find that this anti-damping is arrested at long times due to nonlinear effects, reminiscent of a Rayleigh oscillator. We conclude that a passive harmonic chain can be transformed by its coupling to active matter into a self-sustained fluctuating medium with many-body Rayleigh-like dynamics. That transfer of activity results in pulsations of the displacements, spatial oscillations, and the emergence of persistence in velocities along the chain.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2026

A Rayleigh criterion for mechanical instability: inducing activity by chemo-mechanical coupling

Instabilities in thermodynamic systems are often undesirable, as they can lead to loss of control or even catastrophic behavior. Yet, the same mechanisms can also generate rich nonequilibrium behavior and may play a constructive role in living systems. We introduce a theoretical framework, inspired by Rayleigh's analysis of thermoacoustic instabilities, to study the emergence of mechanical activity. In particular, we derive Rayleigh-like criteria governing the onset of activity and the generation of rotational motion in a slow Newtonian probe coupled to driven chemical processes, described by Markov jump processes. These criteria are expressed in terms of the phase relation between entropic and frenetic contributions, providing a transparent condition for when chemical driving results in sustained rotational or active mechanical motion.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Quasistatic response for nonequilibrium processes: evaluating the Berry potential and curvature

We investigate how introducing slow, time-dependent perturbations to a steady, nonequilibrium process alters the expected (excess) values of important observables, such as the dynamical activity and entropy flux. When we make a cyclic thermodynamic transformation, the excesses are described in terms of a (geometric) Berry phase with corresponding Berry potential and Berry curvature quantifying the response. Focussing on Markov jump processes, we show how a non-zero Berry curvature leads to a breakdown of the thermodynamic Maxwell relations and of the Clausius heat theorem. We also present a variant of the Aharonov-Bohm effect in which the parameters follow a curve with vanishing Berry curvature, but the system still experiences a nonzero Berry phase. Finally, we identify (sufficient) no-localization conditions in terms of mean first-passage times under which the corresponding Berry potentials and curvatures vanish at absolute zero, extending, for arbitrary driving, e.g., the case of vanishing heat capacity as for the Nernst postulate.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Coupling an elastic string to an active bath: the emergence of inverse damping

We consider a slow elastic string with Klein-Gordon dynamics coupled to a bath of run-and-tumble particles. We derive and solve the induced Langevin-Klein-Gordon string dynamics with explicit expressions for the streaming term, friction coefficient, and noise variance. These parameters are computed exactly in a weak coupling expansion. The induced friction is a sum of two terms: one entropic, proportional to the noise variance as in the Einstein relation for a thermal equilibrium bath, and a frenetic contribution that can take both signs. The frenetic part wins for higher bath persistence, making the total friction negative, and hence creating a wave instability akin to inverse Landau damping. However, this acceleration decreases and eventually disappears when the propulsion speed of the active particles becomes much higher. Detailed simulations confirm the initial growth driven by this anti-damping.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Noether's theorem applied to GENERIC

The last decades have seen growing interest in connecting principles of thermodynamics with methods from analytical mechanics. The thermodynamic formalism has become an inspiring framework in the study of smooth dynamical systems, and pioneering works of Helmholtz, Clausius, and Boltzmann have been reinstated as possible dynamical foundations of the (first part of the) Heat Theorem. The present paper follows the work of Wald et al., where black hole entropy was identified as a Noether charge. The adiabatic invariance of the thermodynamic entropy indeed invites a connection with Noether's theorem, and has been the subject of various papers. Here we add the case of GENERIC, a macroscopic dynamics whose acronym stands for ``General Equation for Non-Equilibrium Reversible-Irreversible Coupling''. Its evolution has two contributions: a dissipative part, which is of a generalized gradient descent form, and a Hamiltonian flow. We consider a quasistatic protocol for external parameters, and we embed GENERIC as the zero-cost flow for a Lagrangian governing the dynamical fluctuations. We find a continuous symmetry of the corresponding path-space action with the thermodynamic entropy as Noether charge, both in the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms. We make the calculations explicit through the example of an inertial probe with nonlinear friction.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

First part of Clausius heat theorem in terms of Noether's theorem

After Helmholtz, the mechanical foundation of thermodynamics included the First Law $d E = \delta Q + \delta W$, and the first part of the Clausius heat theorem $\delta Q^\text{rev}/T = dS$. The resulting invariance of the entropy $S$ for quasistatic changes in thermally isolated systems invites a connection with Noether's theorem (only established later). In this quest, we continue an idea, first brought up by Wald in black hole thermodynamics and by Sasa $\textit{et al.}$ in various contexts. We follow both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian frameworks, and emphasize the role of Killing equations for deriving a First Law for thermodynamically consistent trajectories, to end up with an expression of ``heat over temperature'' as an exact differential of a Noether charge.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2024

Entropy as Noether charge for quasistatic gradient flow

Entropy increase is fundamentally related to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry. By adding the 'extra dimension' associated with thermodynamic forces, we extend that discrete symmetry to a continuous symmetry for the dynamical fluctuations around (nonlinear) gradient flow. The latter connects macroscopic equilibrium conditions upon introducing a quasistatic protocol of control parameters. The entropy state function becomes the Noether charge. As a result, and following ideas expressed by Shin-ichi Sasa and co-workers, the adiabatic invariance of the entropy, part of the Clausius heat theorem, gets connected with the Noether theorem.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2023

Dynamical de Sitter black holes in a quasi-stationary expansion

We revisit and improve the analytic study arXiv:1804.03462 of spherically symmetric but dynamical black holes in Einstein's gravity coupled to a real scalar field. We introduce a series expansion in a small parameter $\epsilon$ that implements slow time dependence. At the leading order, the generic solution is a quasi-stationary Schwarzschild-de Sitter (SdS) metric, i.e. one where time-dependence enters only through the mass and cosmological constant parameters of SdS. The two coupled ODEs describing the leading order time dependence are solved up to quadrature for an arbitrary scalar potential. Higher order corrections can be consistently computed, as we show by explicitly solving the Einstein equations at the next to leading order as well. We comment on how the quasi-stationary expansion we introduce here is equivalent to the non-relativistic $1/c$ expansion.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2023

Phase diagram and specific heat of a nonequilibrium Curie-Weiss model

Adding activity or driving to a thermal system may modify its phase diagram and response functions. We study that effect for a Curie-Weiss model where the thermal bath switches rapidly between two temperatures. The critical temperature moves with the nonequilibrium driving, opening up a new region of stability for the paramagnetic phase (zero magnetization) at low temperatures. Furthermore, phase coexistence between the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases becomes possible at low temperatures. Following the excess heat formalism, we calculate the nonequilibrium thermal response and study its behaviour near phase transitions. Where the specific heat at the critical point makes a finite jump in equilibrium (discontinuity), it diverges once we add the second thermal bath. Finally, (also) the nonequilibrium specific heat goes to zero exponentially fast with vanishing temperature, realizing an extended Third Law.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗