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Fluctuation theorems (FTs) quantify the thermodynamic reversibility of a system, and for deterministic systems they are defined in terms of the dissipation function. However, in a nonequilibrium steady state of deterministic dynamics, the phase space distribution is unknown, making the dissipation function difficult to evaluate without extra information. As such, steady state FTs for deterministic systems to date have required either that the trajectory segment of interest is relatively long, or that information is available about the entire trajectory surrounding that segment. In this work, it is shown that a simple machine learning model trained to predict whether a given steady state trajectory segment is being played forward or backward in time calculates a function that satisfies an FT and relies solely on information within the segment of interest. The FT is satisfied even for very short trajectory segments where the approximate relation derived from theory breaks down, for systems far from equilibrium, and for various nonequilibrium dynamics. It is further demonstrated that any function that is a well-calibrated predictor of time's arrow must satisfy a fluctuation theorem, and that a local FT can be derived which depends only on local dissipation and its correlations with the surrounding non-local dissipation.

In this paper we demonstrate that the weak temperature dependence of structure factor of supercooled liquids, a defining feature of the glass transition, is a consequence of the averaging of the scattering intensity either due to the use of an incoherent radiation source or explicit angular averaging. We show that the speckle scattering at individual wavevectors, calculated from a simulated glass former, exhibits a Debye-Waller factor with a sufficiently large temperature dependence to represent a structural order parameter capable of distinguishing liquid from glass. We also extract from the speckle intensities a quantity proportional to the variance of the local restraint, i.e. a direct experimental measure of the amplitude of structural heterogeneity.

Widely applicable, modified Green-Kubo expressions for the local diffusion coefficient ($D_l$) are obtained using linear response theory. In contrast to past definitions in use, these expressions are statistical mechanical results. Molecular simulations of systems with anisotropic diffusion and an inhomogeneous density profile confirm the validity of the results. Diffusion coefficients determined from different expressions in terms of currents and velocity correlations agree in the limit of large systems. Furthermore, they apply to arbitrarily small local regions, making them readily applicable to nanoscale and inhomogeneous systems where knowledge of $D_l$ is important.

We investigate the tagged-particle motion in a strongly interacting quasi-confined liquid using periodic boundary conditions along the confining direction. Within a mode-coupling theory of the glass transition (MCT) we calculate the self-nonergodicity parameters and the self-intermediate scattering function and compare them with event-driven molecular dynamics simulations. We observe non-monotonic behavior for the in-plane mean-square displacement and further correlation functions which refer to higher mode indices encoding information about the perpendicular motion. The in-plane velocity-autocorrelation function reveals persistent anti-correlations with a negative algebraic power-law decay $t^{-2}$ at all packing fractions.

We simulate a strongly size-disperse hard-sphere fluid confined between two parallel, hard walls. We find that confinement induces crystallization into n-layered hexagonal lattices and a novel honeycomb-shaped structure, facilitated by fractionation. The onset of freezing prevents the formation of a stable glass phase and occurs at much smaller packing fraction than in bulk. Varying the wall separation triggers solid-to-solid transitions and a systematic change of the size-distribution of crystalline particles, which we rationalize using a semi-quantitative theory. We show that the crystallization can be exploited in a wedge geometry to demix particles of different sizes.

The sensitivity of anomalous transport in crowded media to the form of the inter-particle interactions is investigated through computer simulations. We extend the highly simplified Lorentz model towards realistic natural systems by modeling the interactions between the tracer and the obstacles with a smooth potential. We find that the anomalous transport at the critical point happens to be governed by the same universal exponent as for hard exclusion interactions, although the mechanism of how narrow channels are probed is rather different. The scaling behavior of simulations close to the critical point confirm this exponent. Our result indicates that the simple Lorentz model may be applicable to describing the fundamental properties of long-range transport in real crowded environments.

The complex behavior of confined fluids arising due to a competition between layering and local packing can be disentangled by considering quasi-confined liquids, where periodic boundary conditions along the confining direction restore translational invariance. This system provides a means to investigate the interplay of the relevant length scales of the confinement and the local order. We provide a mode-coupling theory of the glass transition (MCT) for quasi-confined liquids and elaborate an efficient method for the numerical implementation. The nonergodicity parameters in MCT are compared to computer-simulation results for a hard-sphere fluid. We evaluate the nonequilibrium-state diagram and investigate the collective intermediate scattering function. For both methods, nonmonotonic behavior depending on the confinement length is observed., Comment: Accepted by J. Stat. Mech.: Theory and Experiments

Confined fluids display complex behavior due to layering and local packing. Here, we disentangle these effects by confining a hard-sphere fluid to the surface of a cylinder, such the circumference extends only over a few particle diameters. We compare the static structure factor and the pressure measured in computer simulations to the Percus-Yevick closure in liquid state theory. A non-monotonic evolution of the static-structure-factor peak and the pressure is observed upon variation of the confining length, similar to a liquid confined between two plates. This indicates that the density profile and the particle correlations may not be intrinsically connected in real confined liquids.

Auxetic materials are of great engineering interest not only because of their fascinating negative Poisson's ratio, but also due to their increased toughness and indentation resistance. These materials are typically synthesized polyester foams with a very heterogeneous structure, but the role of disorder in auxetic behavior is not fully understood. Here, we provide a systematic theoretical and experimental investigation in to the effect of disorder on the mechanical properties of a paradigmatic auxetic lattice with a re-entrant hexagonal geometry. We show that disorder has a marginal effect on the Poisson's ratio unless the lattice topology is altered, and in all cases examined the disorder preserves the auxetic characteristics. Depending on the direction of loading applied to these disordered auxetic lattices, either brittle or ductile failure is observed. It is found that brittle failure is associated with a disorder-dependent tensile strength, whereas in ductile failure disorder does not affect strength. Our work thus provides general guidelines to optimize elasticity and strength of disordered auxetic metamaterials., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures