On the thermodynamic analogy of intracellular diffusivity fluctuations

Abstract

Two recent topics on a formal thermodynamic analogy of intracellular diffusivity fluctuations observed experimentally in normal/anomalous diffusion are reported. Not only the analogs of the quantity of heat and work as well as the internal energy but also that of the Clausius inequality are identified. Then, the analog of the heat engine is constructed to characterize extraction of the diffusivity change as the analog of work during a cycle, the efficiency of which is formally equivalent to that of the Carnot engine, making the total change of the entropy concerning the fluctuations vanish. The effect of the slow variation of the fluctuations on the efficiency is also briefly discussed.