Research Interests
- Current research centers on theoretical and experimental investigations of fluctuation processes in noise-driven dynamical systems that are far from thermal equilibrium. Theoretical work focuses on the development of novel metrics for characterizing how far from equilibrium a system is. We focus on cases where established metrics such as entropy production rate may not be easily assessed, for example, in systems driven by non-thermal noises. We focus on metrics such as stochastic area and irreversibility fields which lead to generalizations of the fluctuation-dissipation relation. This work is motivated in part by an effort to understand experiments from a range of fields including biophysics (e.g., filaments embedded in viscoelastic networks with active noise sources), electronic transport (e.g., noise-driven electronic circuits and networks), and atomic physics (e.g., noise-driven trapped ions). Two problems of current interest are: 1) the extension of the stochastic area and related concepts to high-dimensional spatially continuous systems such as elastic filaments (e.g., strings or rods) embedded in viscoelastic media and driven by active noise sources; 2) studies of first-passage processes associated with heating of trapped ions in Paul traps (in collaboration with the group of Prof. Noel at Duke).
Bio
Prof. Stephen Teitsworth's research centers on theoretical and experimental studies of noise-driven processes in far-from-equilibrium systems. Recent activity has centered around the development and implementation of novel metrics such as stochastic area which allow one to quantify how far from equilibrium a system is. These concepts have been developed and applied to low dimensional systems such as mechanical mass-spring assemblies and coupled electronic circuits driven by out-of-equilibrium noise sources.
Two problems of current interest are: 1) the extension of the stochastic area and related concepts to high-dimensional spatially continuous systems such as elastic filaments (e.g., strings or rods) embedded in viscoelastic media and driven by active noise sources; 2) studies of first-passage processes associated with heating of trapped ions in Paul traps (in collaboration with the group of Prof. Noel at Duke).
Education
- Ph.D. Harvard University, 1986
Positions
- Associate Professor of Physics
Awards, Honors, and Distinctions
- Traditional Fulbright Scholarship. Council for International Exchange of Scholars. 1999
Courses Taught
- PHYSICS 791: Special Readings
- PHYSICS 763: Statistical Mechanics
- PHYSICS 493: Research Independent Study
- PHYSICS 491: Independent Study: Advanced Topics
- PHYSICS 137S: Energy in the 21st Century and Beyond
Representative Publications
- Neu, John C., and Stephen W. Teitsworth. “Irreversible dynamics of a continuum driven by active matter.” Physical Review. E 110, no. 5–1 (November 2024): 054114. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.110.054114.
- Teitsworth, Stephen, and John C. Neu. “Stochastic line integrals and stream functions as metrics of irreversibility and heat transfer.” Physical Review. E 106, no. 2–1 (August 2022): 024124. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.106.024124.
- Teitsworth, S. W., M. E. Olson, and Y. Bomze. “Scaling properties of noise-induced switching in a bistable tunnel diode circuit.” European Physical Journal B 92, no. 4 (April 1, 2019). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2019-90711-0.
- Gonzalez, Juan Pablo, John C. Neu, and Stephen W. Teitsworth. “Experimental metrics for detection of detailed balance violation.” Physical Review. E 99, no. 2–1 (February 2019): 022143. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.99.022143.
- Neu, J. C., A. Ghanta, and S. W. Teitsworth. “The Geometry of most probable trajectories in noise-driven dynamical systems.” In Springer Proceedings in Mathematics and Statistics, 232:153–67, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76599-0_9.