Nonequilibrium measurements of free energy differences for microscopically reversible Markovian systems. (English) Zbl 0946.82029

Crooks, Gavin E.

J. Stat. Phys. 90, No. 5-6, 1481-1487 (1998).

Summary: An equality has recently been shown relating the free energy difference between two equilibrium ensembles of a system and an ensemble average of the work required to switch between these two configurations. In the present paper it is shown that this result can be derived under the assumption that the system’s dynamics is Markovian and microscopically reversible.

MSC:

82C05

Classical dynamic and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics (general)

Keywords:

nonequilibrium statistical mechanics; free energy; work; thermodynamic integration; thermodynamic perturbation