Andre Barato

(presenting on September 17, 2025)

Stochastic Thermodynamics: from the thermodynamic uncertainty relation to active heat engines

Abstract

Stochastic Thermodynamics is a generalization of thermodynamics to systems that can be small and far from equilibrium.
In this talk I will give an overview of this theoretical framework with emphasis on our achievements. The most prominent one is the thermodynamic uncertainty relation discovered in 2015. A more recent one is the discovery of the correct statement of the second law
for active heat engines.

Speaker Bio

Andre C. Barato is an associate professor at the University of Houston. He completed his undergrads in Brazil and his PhD in the University of Wuerzburg in Germany. Before becoming a professor at UH in 2018 he held postdoc positions in ICTP Trieste, University of Stuttgart and the Max Planck Institute for the physics of complex systems in Dresden. His main work is in the field of stochastic thermodynamics.