Detailed Fluctuation Theorems: A Unifying Perspective

Abstract

We present a general method to identify an arbitrary number of fluctuating quantities which satisfy a detailed fluctuation theorem for all times within the framework of time-inhomogeneous Markovian jump processes. In doing so we provide a unified perspective on many fluctuation theorems derived in the literature. By complementing the stochastic dynamics with a thermodynamic structure (i.e. using stochastic thermodynamics), we also express these fluctuating quantities in terms of physical observables.

revtex format: 17 pages (12 + 5 for appendices), 7 figures, 3 tables. v2: published version, added an example