Experimentally achieving minimal dissipation via thermodynamically optimal transport.

ABSTRACT: Optimal transport theory, originally developed in the 18th century for civil engineering, has since become a powerful optimization framework across disciplines, from generative AI to cell biology. In physics, it has recently been shown to set fundamental bounds on thermodynamic dissipation in finite-time processes. This extends beyond the conventional second law, which guarantees zero dissipation only in the quasi-static limit and cannot characterize the inevitable dissipation in finite-time processes. Here, we experimentally realize thermodynamically optimal transport using optically trapped microparticles, achieving minimal dissipation within a finite time. As an application to information processing, we implement the optimal finite-time protocol for information erasure, confirming that

SUBMITTER: Oikawa S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12669698 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature