Work

Variational time reversal for free-energy estimation in nonequilibrium steady states

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Studying the structure of systems in nonequilibrium steady states necessitates tools that quantify population shifts and associated deformations of equilibrium free-energy landscapes under persistent currents. Within the framework of stochastic thermodynamics, we establish a variant of the Kawasaki-Crooks equality that relates nonequilibrium free-energy corrections in overdamped Langevin systems to heat dissipation statistics along time-reversed relaxation trajectories computable with molecular simulation. Using stochastic control theory, we arrive at a general variational approach to evaluate the Kawasaki-Crooks equality and use it to estimate distribution functions of order parameters in specific models of driven and active matter, attaining substantial improvement in accuracy over simple perturbative methods.

Source: Physical review. E

DOI: 10.1103/physreve.110.024120

Authors: Jorge L. Rosa-Raíces, David T. Limmer

Institutions: University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics

Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green