1106.2564 (Hao Ge et al.)

Heat Dissipation and Self-consistent Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics of
Open Driven Systems    [PDF]

Hao Ge, Hong Qian

Nonequilibrium thermodynamics of a system in a sustained environment with influx and efflux is usually treated as a subsystem of a large closed "universe". It is still in doubt whether a satisfactory nonequilibrium thermodynamics can be established for an open driven system solely based upon its internal dynamics without involving any further details of the surrounding. In the present work we introduce the notion of ideal external regenerating systems which sustains a nonequilibriu steady-state (NESS). Using the master-equation description of motor protein either with or without a regenerating system as an example, we illustrate that the two systems have identical kinetics as well as the traditional Second Law with positive entropy production rate. There is, however, subtle difference in their heat dissipations. In fact, First Law can be established through the minimum work that is required for the external energy regenerating system to keep the NESS. This interpretation makes the heat dissipation well defined in the NESS perspective from the equations of internal dynamics. As a result, the entropy production rate is always equal to the "dissipated" heat in a NESS, leading to a less than 100% efficiency for energy transduction. Moreover, we interpret the housekeeping heat as the ensemble averaged summation of the NESS heat dissipation and NESS entropy change within each transition. The new perspective yields an extended Second Law, which emerges only from driven dynamics with external regenerating systems. It further suggests new ingredients for the thermodynamics of self-organization in driven systems.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1106.2564