Effective temperature for an intermittent bistable potential.

Thermodynamics of far-from-equilibrium systems often require measurement of effective parameters such as temperature. Whether such approach is valid for the general case of resetting protocols, active systems, or of confined systems under time-varying fields is still under investigation. We report on the effect of switching ON-OFF of an asymmetric bistable potential to the mean first passage time (MFPT) of a probed particle to go from one potential minima to the other. Experimental results coupled with numerical simulations shows the potential becoming more symmetric at slow switching. Moreover, the MFPT deviates from equilibrium condition with an effective temperature, Teff < T, at slow switching but approaches room temperature, T, at fast switching. For each switching rate, we quantify how far the system is from equilibrium by measuring deviation from a detailed balance like relation and the net circulation of flux present in phase-space. Both analysis suggest equilibrium condition are met at high switching.