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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Role of external flow and frame invariance in stochastic thermodynamics
Thomas Speck1, Jakob Mehl, Udo Seifert
1II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany.
Abstract:
For configurational changes of soft matter systems affected or caused by external hydrodynamic flow, we identify applied work, exchanged heat, and entropy change on the level of a single trajectory. These expressions guarantee invariance of stochastic thermodynamics under a change of frame of reference. As criterion for equilibrium versus nonequilibrium, zero versus nonzero applied work replaces detailed balance versus nonvanishing currents, since both latter criteria are shown to depend on the frame of reference. Our results are illustrated quantitatively by calculating the large deviation function for the entropy production of a dumbbell in shear flow.
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