Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B
Online ISSN : 1349-2896
Print ISSN : 0386-2208
ISSN-L : 0386-2208
Reviews
What can we learn from noise? — Mesoscopic nonequilibrium statistical physics —
Kensuke KOBAYASHI
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2016 Volume 92 Issue 7 Pages 204-221

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Abstract

Mesoscopic systems — small electric circuits working in quantum regime — offer us a unique experimental stage to explorer quantum transport in a tunable and precise way. The purpose of this Review is to show how they can contribute to statistical physics. We introduce the significance of fluctuation, or equivalently noise, as noise measurement enables us to address the fundamental aspects of a physical system. The significance of the fluctuation theorem (FT) in statistical physics is noted. We explain what information can be deduced from the current noise measurement in mesoscopic systems. As an important application of the noise measurement to statistical physics, we describe our experimental work on the current and current noise in an electron interferometer, which is the first experimental test of FT in quantum regime. Our attempt will shed new light in the research field of mesoscopic quantum statistical physics.

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© 2016 The Japan Academy
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