Shiling Liang

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne | EPFL · Physics Section

Living systems are maintained out-of-equilibrium by external driving forces, thus continuously dissipating energy. Non-equilibrium steady states are characterized by emergent selection phenomena that break equilibrium symmetries dictated solely by energetic properties. Here, we use the matrix-tree theorem to derive universal thermodynamic bounds on...

Exposing a solution to a temperature gradient can lead to the accumulation of particles on either the cold or warm side. This phenomenon is known as thermophoresis, and its microscopic origin is still debated. Here, we show that thermophoresis can be observed in any system having internal states with different transport properties, and temperature-...

When exposed to a thermal gradient, reaction networks can convert thermal energy into the chemical selection of states that would be unfavourable at equilibrium. The kinetics of reaction paths, and thus how fast they dissipate available energy, might be dominant in dictating the stationary populations of all chemical states out of equilibrium. This...

When exposed to a thermal gradient, reaction networks can convert thermal energy into the chemical selection of states that would be unfavourable at equilibrium. The kinetics of reaction paths, and thus how fast they dissipate available energy, might be dominant in dictating the stationary populations of all chemical states out-of-equilibrium. This...

The exclusive presence of β -D-ribofuranose in nucleic acids is still a conundrum in prebiotic chemistry, given that pyranose species are substantially more stable at equilibrium. However, a precise characterisation of the relative furanose/pyranose fraction at temperatures higher than about 50 °C is still lacking. Here, we employ a combination of...

Life has most likely originated as a consequence of processes taking place in non-equilibrium conditions (e.g. in the proximity of deep-sea thermal vents) selecting states of matter that would have been otherwise unfavorable at equilibrium. Here we present a simple chemical network in which the selection of states is driven by the thermodynamic nec...

Exposing a solution to a temperature gradient can lead to the accumulation of particles on either the cold or warm side. This phenomenon, known as thermophoresis, has been discovered more than a century ago, and yet its microscopic origin is still debated. Here, we show that thermophoresis can be observed in any system such that the transitions bet...

The exclusive presence of $\beta$-D-ribofuranose in nucleic acids is still a conundrum in prebiotic chemistry, given that pyranose species are substantially more stable at equilibrium. However, a precise characterisation of the relative furanose/pyranose fraction at temperatures higher than about 50$^{\,\rm o}$C is still lacking. Here, we employ a...