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Published on: May 30, 2014
Probabilistic Work Extraction on a Classical Oscillator Beyond the Second Law
Nicolas Barros1, Sergio Ciliberto1, Ludovic Bellon1
1<a href="https://ror.org/01rk35k63">Université de Lyon</a>, <a href="https://ror.org/04zmssz18">ENS de Lyon</a>, <a href="https://ror.org/02feahw73">CNRS</a>, <a href="https://ror.org/00w5ay796">Laboratoire de Physique</a>, F-69342 Lyon, France.
Abstract:
We demonstrate experimentally that, applying optimal protocols that drive the system between two equilibrium states characterized by a free energy difference ΔF, we can maximize the probability of performing the transition between the two states with a work W smaller than ΔF. The second law holds only on average, resulting in the inequality ⟨W⟩≥ΔF. The experiment is performed using an underdamped oscillator evolving in a double-well potential. We show that with a suitable choice of parameters the probability of obtaining trajectories with W≤ΔF can be larger than 95%. Very fast protocols are a key feature to obtain these results, which are explained in terms of the Jarzynski equality.
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