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On the Breaking of Energy Equipartition in Non-Equilibrium Systems
Energy equipartition between degrees of freedom having a quadratic energy is a cornerstone of equilibrium statistical physics. In the presence of correlations, equipartition often applies to extended modes, like Fourier or normal modes, rather than to localized degrees of freedom. For systems driven out of equilibrium, energy equipartition does not hold in general, and strong violations of equipartition may originate from different types of physical mechanisms. Some of these mechanisms will be illustrated on various examples, including an AFM cantilever, a model of dense active matter, and a frictional spring-block model.