Inertial Effects in Nonequilibrium Work Fluctuations by a Path Integral Approach

TL;DR

This paper investigates inertial effects on work fluctuations in nonequilibrium steady states of a dragged Brownian particle using a path integral method, revealing frame-dependent differences and oscillatory behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces a path integral approach to analyze inertial effects on work fluctuations, deriving the work distribution and fluctuation theorem for both laboratory and comoving frames.

Findings

Asymptotic fluctuation theorem holds for any initial condition.

Finite-time work fluctuations differ between frames, especially for large masses.

Oscillatory behavior in work distribution appears for masses above a critical value.

Abstract

Inertial effects in fluctuations of the work to sustain a system in a nonequilibrium steady state are discussed for a dragged massive Brownian particle model using a path integral approach. We calculate the work distribution function in the laboratory and comoving frames and prove the asymptotic fluctuation theorem for these works for any initial condition. Important and observable differences between the work fluctuations in the two frames appear for finite times and are discussed concretely for a nonequilibrium steady state initial condition. We also show that for finite times a time oscillatory behavior appears in the work distribution function for masses larger than a nonzero critical value.