arXiv subjects

Irene Maes

Publications and source records attributed to Irene Maes.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Drazin-Inverse and heat capacity for driven random walks on the ring

We apply single and double tree-like representations of Markov jump processes on $\mathbb{Z}_N$ for obtaining their nonequilibrium heat capacity and for taking the diffusion limit $N\uparrow \infty$. The main tool is a graphical representation of the Drazin-inverse of the backward generator. In that way, the combination of algebraic and graph-theoretical approaches enables an exact computation of an important nonequilibrium quantity (excess heat) for Markov jump processes.

math.PR↗

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↗

arXiv2023

The vanishing of excess heat for nonequilibrium processes reaching zero ambient temperature

We present the mathematical ingredients for an extension of the Third Law of Thermodynamics (Nernst heat postulate) to nonequilibrium processes. The central quantity is the excess heat which measures the quasistatic addition to the steady dissipative power when a parameter in the dynamics is changed slowly. We prove for a class of driven Markov jump processes that it vanishes at zero environment temperature. Furthermore, the nonequilibrium heat capacity goes to zero with temperature as well. Main ingredients in the proof are the matrix-forest theorem for the relaxation behavior of the heat flux, and the matrix-tree theorem giving the low-temperature asymptotics of the stationary probability. The main new condition for the extended Third Law requires the absence of major (low-temperature induced) delays in the relaxation to the steady dissipative structure.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2022

Exact computation of heat capacities for active particles on a graph

The notion of a nonequilibrium heat capacity is important for bio-energetics and for calorimetry of active materials more generally. It centers around the notion of excess heat or excess work dissipated during a quasistatic relaxation between different nonequilibrium conditions. We give exact results for active random walks moving in an energy landscape on a graph, based on calculations employing the matrix-tree and matrix-forest theorems. That graphical method applies to any Markov jump process under the physical condition of local detailed balance, and is not restricted to the examples given in this paper.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗