Onsager coefficients for systems with periodic potentials

Abstract

We carry out the thermodynamic analysis of a Markovian stochastic engine, driven by a spatially and temporally periodic modulation in a d-dimensional space. We derive the analytic expressions for the Onsager coefficients characterizing the linear response regime for the isothermal transfer of one type of work (a driver) to another (a load), mediated by a stochastic time-periodic machine. As an illustration, we obtain the explicit results for a Markovian kangaroo process coupling two orthogonal directions and find extremely good agreement with numerical simulations. In addition, we obtain and discuss expressions for the entropy production, power, and efficiency for the kangaroo process.