Entropy production for coarse-grained dynamics
Systems out of equilibrium exhibit a net production of entropy. We study the dynamics of a stochastic system represented by a Master equation (ME) that can be modeled by a Fokker–Planck equation in a coarse-grained, mesoscopic description. We show that the corresponding coarse-grained entropy produc...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2019-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab29c0 |
| Summary: | Systems out of equilibrium exhibit a net production of entropy. We study the dynamics of a stochastic system represented by a Master equation (ME) that can be modeled by a Fokker–Planck equation in a coarse-grained, mesoscopic description. We show that the corresponding coarse-grained entropy production contains information on microscopic currents that are not captured by the Fokker–Planck equation and thus cannot be deduced from it. We study a discrete-state and a continuous-state system, deriving in both the cases an analytical expression for the coarse-graining corrections to the entropy production. This result elucidates the limits in which there is no loss of information in passing from a ME to a Fokker–Planck equation describing the same system. Our results are amenable of experimental verification, which could help to infer some information about the underlying microscopic processes. |
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| ISSN: | 1367-2630 |