Fluctuation Theorems

Details Fluctuation Theorems Fluctuation Theorems

2007-09-25

arxiv.org/abs/0709.3888v2

Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, Vol 59, 603-633, (2008)

Physics

Condensed Matter

Statistical Mechanics

A review, submitted to Annual Reviews in Physical Chemistry, July 2007 Acknowledgements corrected in revision

Scientific paper

Fluctuation theorems, which have been developed over the past 15 years, have resulted in fundamental breakthroughs in our understanding of how irreversibility emerges from reversible dynamics, and have provided new statistical mechanical relationships for free energy changes. They describe the statistical fluctuations in time-averaged properties of many-particle systems such as fluids driven to nonequilibrium states, and provide some of the very few analytical expressions that describe nonequilibrium states. Quantitative predictions on fluctuations in small systems that are monitored over short periods can also be made, and therefore the fluctuation theorems allow thermodynamic concepts to be extended to apply to finite systems. For this reason, fluctuation theorems are anticipated to play an important role in the design of nanotechnological devices and in understanding biological processes. These theorems, their physical significance and results for experimental and model systems are discussed.

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