Work probability distribution in single molecule experiments

TL;DR

This paper derives a differential equation for the work distribution in single-molecule unzipping experiments, enabling easier numerical evaluation and confirming the Jarzynski equality regardless of the pulling protocol.

Contribution

It introduces a differential equation approach to compute work distributions in single-molecule experiments, simplifying analysis and confirming theoretical identities.

Findings

Derived a differential equation for work distribution

Validated the Jarzynski equality in this context

Provided a numerical method for work distribution evaluation

Abstract

We derive and solve a differential equation satisfied by the probability distribution of the work done on a single biomolecule in a mechanical unzipping experiment. The unzipping is described as a thermally activated escape process in an energy landscape. The Jarzynski equality is recovered as an identity, independent of the pulling protocol. This approach allows one to evaluate easily, by numerical integration, the work distribution, once a few parameters of the energy landscape are known.