Fluctuation relation for a Lévy particle
Abstract
Description
We study the work fluctuations of a particle subjected to a deterministic drag force plus a random forcing whose statistics is of the Lévy type. In the stationary regime, the probability density of the work is found to have ``fat'' power-law tails which assign a relatively high probability to large fluctuations compared with the case where the random forcing is Gaussian. These tails lead to a strong violation of existing fluctuation theorems, as the ratio of the probabilities of positive and negative work fluctuations of equal magnitude behaves in a non-monotonic way. Possible experiments that could probe these features are proposed.
5 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX4; v2: minor corrections and references added; v3: typos corrected, new conclusion, close to published version
5 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX4; v2: minor corrections and references added; v3: typos corrected, new conclusion, close to published version