Optimal control and nonequilibrium free energy estimation

Synopsis

Since its inception nearly 200 years ago, a central theme of thermodynamics has been the design of energetically efficient engines. In our modern world the engines grow ever smaller, down to the micro- and nano-scale of biological molecular machines, where stochastic fluctuations are large. We investigate the most energetically efficient control of these small-scale systems and find general design principles applicable slow, fast, weak, and strong driving. These results are applied to nonequilibrium free energy estimation to improve their precision and accuracy.