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Main Authors: Hofer, Markus, Korbel, Jan, Hanel, Rudolf, Thurner, Stefan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.12192
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author Hofer, Markus
Korbel, Jan
Hanel, Rudolf
Thurner, Stefan
author_facet Hofer, Markus
Korbel, Jan
Hanel, Rudolf
Thurner, Stefan
contents In systems with detailed balance, the stationary distribution and the equilibrium distribution are identical, creating a clear connection between energetic and entropic quantities. Many driven systems violate detailed balance and still pose a challenge for a consistent thermodynamic interpretation. Even steady-state potentials like entropy or free energy are no longer state variables. Here, we use a framework for systems with broken detailed balance, where Boltzmann entropy can be computed while properly taking constraints on state transitions into account. As an illustration, we establish the thermodynamic relations for arbitrarily driven sample space-reducing processes that are non-equilibrium but show steady states. We demonstrate that, despite explicitly broken detailed balance, it remains feasible to define and unambiguously interpret the effective thermodynamic potentials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_12192
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Thermodynamics of driven systems with explicitly broken detailed balance
Hofer, Markus
Korbel, Jan
Hanel, Rudolf
Thurner, Stefan
Statistical Mechanics
In systems with detailed balance, the stationary distribution and the equilibrium distribution are identical, creating a clear connection between energetic and entropic quantities. Many driven systems violate detailed balance and still pose a challenge for a consistent thermodynamic interpretation. Even steady-state potentials like entropy or free energy are no longer state variables. Here, we use a framework for systems with broken detailed balance, where Boltzmann entropy can be computed while properly taking constraints on state transitions into account. As an illustration, we establish the thermodynamic relations for arbitrarily driven sample space-reducing processes that are non-equilibrium but show steady states. We demonstrate that, despite explicitly broken detailed balance, it remains feasible to define and unambiguously interpret the effective thermodynamic potentials.
title Thermodynamics of driven systems with explicitly broken detailed balance
topic Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.12192