Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics: from a paradigmatic model to biological transport

By T. Chou, K. Mallick, Royce K. P. Zia. 2011

466 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Unlike equilibrium statistical mechanics, with its well-established foundations, a similar widely accepted framework for non-equilibrium statistical mechanics (NESM) remains elusive. Here, we review some of the many recent activities on NESM, focusing on some of the fundamental issues and general aspects. Using the language of stochastic Markov processes, we emphasize general properties of the evolution of configurational probabilities, as described by master equations. Of particular interest are systems in which the dynamics violates detailed balance, since such systems serve to model a wide variety of phenomena in nature. We next review two distinct approaches for investigating such problems. One approach focuses on models sufficiently simple to allow us to find exact, analytic, non-trivial results. We provide detailed mathematical analyses of a one-dimensional continuous-time lattice gas, the totally asymmetric exclusion process. It is regarded as a paradigmatic model for NESM, much like the role the Ising model played for equilibrium statistical mechanics. It is also the starting point for the second approach, which attempts to include more realistic ingredients in order to be more applicable to systems in nature. Restricting ourselves to the area of biophysics and cellular biology, we review a number of models that are relevant for transport phenomena. Successes and limitations of these simple models are also highlighted.

Subfields: Condensed Matter Physics, Mathematical Physics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/110ecdae90819e36ad45d55caa9ed8942cd1fc2b

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In Condensed Matter Physics

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Citations in the corpus

Stochastic thermodynamics, fluctuation theorems and molecular machines (2012, background): “Nice reviews covering related recent topics in non-equilibrium physics are [48, 49].”
Dissipation Bounds All Steady-State Current Fluctuations. (2015, methodology): “5, corresponding to a high-density phase [33].”
Stochastic models of intracellular transport (2013, background): “…2007; Lipowsky and Klumpp, 2005; Reimann, 2002), reaction kinetics (Hanggi et al., 1990), confined diffusion (Burada et al., 2009), random intermittent search processes (Benichou et al., 2011b), and exclusion processes (Chou et al., 2011; Evans and Hanney, 2005; Schadschneider et al., 2010).”
Stochastic mechano-chemical kinetics of molecular motors: A multidisciplinary enterprise from a physicist’s perspective (2012, background): “traffic-like collective movement of many machines simultaneously on a single template is a TASEP of hard rods [555].”