Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: With a statistical measure of distance, we derive a classical uncertainty relation for processes traversing nonequilibrium states both transiently and irreversibly. The geometric uncertainty associated with dynamical histories that we define is an upper bound for the entropy production and flow rates, but it does not necessarily correlate with the shortest distance to equilibrium. For slowly driven systems, we show that our uncertainty lower bounds the rate of energy fluctuations. For a model one-bit memory device, we find that expediting the erasure protocol increases the maximum dissipated heat and geometric uncertainty. A driven version of Onsager's three-state model shows that a set of dissipative, high-uncertainty initial conditions, some of which are near equilibrium, scar the state space.
Source: Physical review. E
Institution: University of Massachusetts Boston
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: G6006819026
OpenAlex ID: W2891142640