Free energy surfaces from nonequilibrium processes without work measurement

Recent developments in statistical mechanics have allowed the estimation of equilibrium free energies from the statistics of work measurements during processes that drive the system out of equilibrium. Here a different class of processes is considered, wherein the system is prepared and released fro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of chemical physics 2006-04, Vol.124 (14), p.144111-144111
Main Author: Adib, Artur B
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Recent developments in statistical mechanics have allowed the estimation of equilibrium free energies from the statistics of work measurements during processes that drive the system out of equilibrium. Here a different class of processes is considered, wherein the system is prepared and released from a nonequilibrium state, and no external work is involved during its observation. For such "clamp-and-release" processes, a simple strategy for the estimation of equilibrium free energies is offered. The method is illustrated with numerical simulations and analyzed in the context of tethered single-molecule experiments.
ISSN:0021-9606
1089-7690
DOI:10.1063/1.2188946