Temperature Fluctuations in a Rectangular Nanochannel

Abstract

We consider an incompressible fluid in a rectangular nanochannel. We solve numerically the three dimensional Fourier heat equation to get the steady solution for the temperature. Then we set and solve the Langevin equation for the temperature. We have developed equations in order to determine relaxation time of the temperature fluctuations, τ T = 4.62 × 10 -10 s. We have performed a spectral analysis of the thermal fluctuations, with the result that temporal correlations are in the one-digit ps range, and the thermal noise excites the thermal modes in the two-digit GHz range. Also we observe long-range spatial correlation up to more than half the size of the cell, 600 nm; the wave number, q, is in the 10 ⁶ m ^{- 1} range. We have also determined two thermal relaxation lengths in the z direction: l 1 = 1.18 nm and l 2 = 9.86 nm.