Simulation of Stochastic Non-Equilibrium Thermal Effects of Particle Inclusions within Fluid Interfaces and Membranes

TL;DR

This paper develops theoretical models and computational methods to simulate the non-equilibrium thermal behavior of particles at fluid interfaces, capturing thermal, hydrodynamic, and fluctuation effects.

Contribution

It introduces new simulation techniques for non-equilibrium thermal effects in fluid interfaces with particles, including efficient stochastic algorithms.

Findings

Simulated particle heating and thermal gradient effects.

Captured hydrodynamic fluctuations influenced by thermal gradients.

Demonstrated applicability to active soft materials and biophysical systems.

Abstract

We formulate theoretical modeling approaches and develop practical computational simulation methods for investigating the non-equilibrium statistical mechanics of fluid interfaces with passive and active immersed particles. Our approaches capture phenomena taking into account thermal and dissipative energy exchanges, hydrodynamic coupling, and correlated spontaneous fluctuations. Our methods allow for modeling non-uniform time-varying temperature fields, fluid momentum fields, and their impacts on particle drift-diffusion dynamics. We show how practical stochastic numerical methods can be developed for these systems by performing analysis to factor operators analytically to obtain efficient algorithms for generating the fluctuating fields. We demonstrate our methods in a few simulation studies showing how they can be used to capture particle heating of the interface and the roles of thermal gradients on hydrodynamic fluctuations. The methods developed provide modeling and simulation approaches that can be used for further investigations of non-equilibrium phenomena in active soft materials, complex fluids, and biophysical systems.