Work to insert a particle into an active fluid
Abstract
Abstract The chemical potential is defined as the work to quasi-statically add a particle to an equilibrium system. Inspired by this definition, we investigate how the work to add a particle to an active fluid depends on the activity, density, and insertion protocol. We find that the average work is protocol dependent and decreases with activity. Moreover, the work fluctuations retain asymmetric non-Gaussian tails even for slow particle insertions. We then compare the average particle-insertion work to the steady-state densities observed when two active fluids are brought into diffusive contact and observe opposing trends between density and work.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
Micro and Nano Robotics
Stochastic processes and statistical mechanics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Europhysics Letters (EPL)
- Volume
- 153
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 47003–47003
- Publication date
- 1 February 2026
- Language
- EN