Equilibrium Free Energies from Nonequilibrium Processes
arXiv:cond-mat/9802155
Abstract
A recent result, relating the (irreversible) work performed on a system during a non-quasistatic process, to the Helmholtz free energy difference between two equilibrium states of the system, is discussed. A proof of this result is given for the special case when the evolution of the system in question is modelled by a Langevin equation in configuration space.
Conference talk in Zakopane, Poland; 11 pages + 3 figures