2005/01/31 by A. Imparato, A Imparato, L. Peliti +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Distribution (mathematics) #Expression (computer science) #Function (biology) #Independent and identically distributed random variables #Joint probability distribution #Path (computing) #Path integral formulation #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Work (physics) #cond-mat.other #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/epl/i2005-10067-5
published as Europhys. Lett., 70, 740-746 (2005). · 4 pages, 2 figures; accepted for publication in Europhys. Lett
arxiv created 2005/04/21 · openalex publication_date 2005/05/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We consider a mean-field system described by a general collective variable M , driven out of equilibrium by the manipulation of a parameter μ. Given a general dynamics compatible with its equilibrium distribution, we derive the evolution equation for the joint probability distribution function of M and the work W done on the system. We solve this equation by path integrals. We show that the Jarzynski equality holds identically for these dynamics, both at the path integral level and for the classical paths which dominate the expression in the thermodynamic limit. We discuss some implications of our results.