Energy fluctuations in a biharmonically driven nonlinear system

Abstract

We study the fluctuations of work done and dissipated heat of a Brownian particle in a symmetric double well system. The system is driven by two periodic input signals that rock the potential simultaneously. Confinement in one preferred well can be achieved by modulating the relative phase between the drives. We show that in the presence of pumping the stochastic resonance signal is enhanced when analysed in terms of the average work done on the system per cycle. This is in contrast with the case when pumping is achieved by applying an external static bias, which degrades resonance. We analyse the nature of work and heat fluctuations and show that the steady state fluctuation theorem holds in this system.