Molecular dynamics on nonequilibrium motion of a colloidal particle driven by an external torque

Abstract

We investigate the motion of a colloidal particle driven out of equilibrium by an external torque. We use molecular dynamics simulation as an alternative to the Langevin dynamics. We prepare a heat bath composed of thousands of particles interacting with each other through the Lennard–Jones potential and impose the Langevin thermostat to maintain the heat bath in equilibrium. We consider a single colloidal particle interacting with with the particles of the heat bath also by the Lennard–Jones potential, without applying any types of dissipative or fluctuating forces used in Langevin dynamics. We set up simulation protocol fit for the overdamped limit as in real experiments, by increasing the size and mass of the colloidal particle. We study nonequilibrium fluctuations for work and heat produced incessantly in time and compare the results with those obtained from the previous studies via the overdamped Langevin dynamics. We confirm the Gallavotti–Cohen symmetry and the fluctuation theorem.