Statistical properties of the energy exchanged between two heat baths coupled by thermal fluctuations

We study both experimentally and theoretically the statistical properties of the energy exchanged between two electrical conductors, kept at different temperature by two different heat reservoirs, and coupled by the electric thermal noise. Such a system is ruled by the same equations as two Brownian particles kept at different temperatures and coupled by an elastic force. We measure the heat flowing between the two reservoirs, the thermodynamic work done by one part of the system on the other, and we show that these quantities exhibit a long time fluctuation theorem. Furthermore, we evaluate the fluctuating entropy, which satisfies a conservation law. These experimental results are fully justified by the theoretically analysis. Our results give more insight into the energy transfer in the famous Feymann ratchet widely studied theoretically but never in an experiment.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Source JSTAT
Author Ciliberto, Sergio, Imparato, Alberto, Naert, Antoine, Tanase, Marius
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 8, 2026, 05:29 (UTC)
Created May 8, 2026, 05:29 (UTC)
Identifier ensl-00905209
Language en
Rights https://about.hal.science/hal-authorisation-v1/
contributor Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS Lyon (Phys-ENS) ; École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon) ; Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL) ; Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
creator Ciliberto, Sergio
date 2013-12-08T00:00:00
harvest_object_id 1bdfda43-6a78-43a9-bb78-c882ef236571
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2025-10-13T00:00:00
relation info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/arxiv/1311.4189
set_spec type:ART