Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 6, 2026

A Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy Assay of Protein-Protein Interactions at Cell-Cell Contacts
Published on: December 1, 2018
Fluctuation theorems
E M Sevick1, R Prabhakar, Stephen R Williams
1Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200 Australia. sevick@rsc.anu.edu.au
Abstract:
Fluctuation theorems, developed over the past 15 years, have resulted in fundamental breakthroughs in our understanding of how irreversibility emerges from reversible dynamics and have provided new statistical mechanical relationships for free-energy changes. They describe the statistical fluctuations in time-averaged properties of many-particle systems such as fluids driven to nonequilibrium states and provide some of the few analytical expressions that describe nonequilibrium states. Quantitative predictions on fluctuations in small systems that are monitored over short periods can also be made, and therefore the fluctuation theorems allow thermodynamic concepts to be extended to apply to finite systems. For this reason, we anticipate an important role for fluctuation theorems in the design of nanotechnological devices and in the understanding of biological processes. This review discusses these theorems, their physical significance, and results for experimental and model systems.
More Related Videos
11:03An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
11:00Experimental Investigation of Secondary Flow Structures Downstream of a Model Type IV Stent Failure in a 180° Curved Artery Test Section
Published on: July 19, 2016
Related Concept Videos
The Squeeze Theorem
Net Change Theorem
The Mean Value Theorem
Divergence and Stokes' Theorems
The Intermediate Value Theorem
Fundamental Theorem of Calculus I: Problem Solving