Date of Award
Fall 2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Physics
First Advisor
Machta, Benjamin
Abstract
Biological processes consume energy to drive changes in their internal and external environments. From an abstract perspective, we can think of these energetic costs as arising from the dissipation associated with breaking time-reversal symmetry. Here we explore some new quantitative energetic bounds for specific classes of biological functions dictating exactly how much dissipation is necessary to perform the function. In particular, we examine the role of time-reversal symmetry breaking in the control of thermodynamic systems and the energetic cost of communicating information under physical constraints. The new principles we present are relevant to understanding the energetic budget of processes as diverse as information processing in the brain and E. coli chemotaxis.
Recommended Citation
Bryant, Samuel, "Energy Dissipation Bounds in Fundamental Biological Processes" (2022). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 856.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/856
