Work fluctuations for diffusion dynamics submitted to stochastic return

Abstract

Returning a system to a desired state under a force field involves a thermodynamic cost, i.e. work. This cost fluctuates for a small-scale system from one experimental realization to another. We introduce a general framework to determine the work distribution for returning a system facilitated by a confining potential with its minimum at the restart location. The general strategy, based on average over resetting pathways, constitutes a robust method to gain access to the statistical information of observables from resetting systems. We exploit paradigmatic setups, where explicit computations are attainable, to illustrate the theory. Numerical simulations validate our theoretical predictions. For some of these examples, a non-trivial behavior of the work fluctuations opens a door to optimization problems. Specifically, work fluctuations can be minimized by an appropriate tuning of the return rate.