Nonequilibrium work relation beyond the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2014 Jun;89(6):062112. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.89.062112. Epub 2014 Jun 9.

Abstract

The presence of multiplicative noise can alter measurements of forces acting on nanoscopic objects. Taking into account of multiplicative noise, we derive a series of nonequilibrium thermodynamical equalities as generalization of the Jarzynski equality, the detailed fluctuation theorem and the Hatano-Sasa relation. Our result demonstrates that the Jarzynski equality and the detailed fluctuation theorem remains valid only for systems with the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution at the equilibrium state, but the Hatano-Sasa relation is robust with respect to different stochastic interpretations of multiplicative noise.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Nanostructures*
  • Stochastic Processes
  • Thermodynamics*