Project R-2802

Irreversibility and efficiency in small-scale systems (Research)

In contrast to the basic microscopic laws in physics, which are symmetric on time reversal, most macrocopic phenomena are characterized by irreversible behavior. Recently exact expressions for the entropy production and thermodynamical efficiency were proposed. Within this project we want to investigate how these results can be applied to small-scale systems like two-dimensional quantum dots, classical Coulomb clusters, photoelectric and electro-chemical devices. Within such systems, fluctuations are very prominent, and even determine largely their properties. At the same time the difference between reversibility and irreversibility becomes smaller. But those systems are also promising from the viewpoint of efficiency, as the losses due to irreversibility can be addressed more easily. The main goal of this project is to propose experimental systems and to determine with computer simulations the conditions under which the effects of irreversibility and efficiency in small-scale systems can be observed experimentally.

01 January 2011 - 31 December 2014