Independence of the transient fluctuation theorem to thermostatting details
- 6 December 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review E
- Vol. 70 (6), 066113
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.70.066113
Abstract
The fluctuation theorems show how macroscopic irreversibility arises from time reversible microscopic dynamics. They have been confirmed in computer simulations and in laboratory experiments. The standard proofs of the transient fluctuation theorems involve the use of time reversible deterministic thermostats to control the temperature of the system of interest. These mathematical thermostats do not occur in Nature. However, since in a gedanken experiment the thermostatting regions can be removed arbitrarily far from the system of interest, it has been argued that the precise details of the thermostat cannot be important and that the resulting fluctuation theorems apply to natural systems. In this paper we give a detailed analysis showing how the fluctuation theorem is independent of the precise mathematical details of the thermostatting mechanism for an infinite class of fictitious time reversible deterministic thermostats. Our analysis reinforces the implications of the gedanken experiment and implies that thermostats used in the derivations of fluctuation theorems are a convenient but ultimately irrelevant device.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Fluctuations and Irreversibility: An Experimental Demonstration of a Second-Law-Like Theorem Using a Colloidal Particle Held in an Optical TrapPhysical Review Letters, 2004
- The Fluctuation TheoremAdvances in Physics, 2002
- Experimental Demonstration of Violations of the Second Law of Thermodynamics for Small Systems and Short Time ScalesPhysical Review Letters, 2002
- Path-ensemble averages in systems driven far from equilibriumPhysical Review E, 2000
- Entropy production in open volume-preserving systemsJournal of Statistical Physics, 1997
- On the Generalized Inverse Form of the Equations of Constrained MotionThe American Mathematical Monthly, 1995
- Dynamical Ensembles in Nonequilibrium Statistical MechanicsPhysical Review Letters, 1995
- Equilibrium microstates which generate second law violating steady statesPhysical Review E, 1994
- Probability of second law violations in shearing steady statesPhysical Review Letters, 1993
- High-Strain-Rate Plastic Flow Studied via Nonequilibrium Molecular DynamicsPhysical Review Letters, 1982