Single-molecule measurement of the effective temperature in non-equilibrium steady states

Temperature is a well-defined quantity for systems in equilibrium. For glassy systems, it has been extended to the non-equilibrium regime, showing up as an effective quantity in a modified version of the fluctuation–dissipation theorem. However, experimental evidence supporting this definition remains scarce. Here, we present the first direct experimental demonstration of the effective temperature by measuring correlations and responses in single molecules in non-equilibrium steady states generated under external random forces. We combine experiment, analytical theory and simulations for systems with different levels of complexity, ranging from a single bead in an optical trap to two-state and multiple-state DNA hairpins. From these data, we extract a unifying picture for the existence of an effective temperature based on the relative order of various timescales characterizing intrinsic relaxation and external driving. Our study thus introduces driven small systems as a fertile ground to address fundamental concepts in statistical physics, condensed-matter physics and biophysics.