Lower bounds on dissipation upon coarse graining

TL;DR

This paper establishes lower bounds on the minimal work dissipated in driven Brownian systems during coarse-graining, illustrating how information about dissipation can be captured through analytical examples.

Contribution

It introduces a method to derive lower bounds on dissipation in non-equilibrium systems using coarse-graining procedures, supported by solvable examples.

Findings

Lower bounds on dissipation are derived for Brownian systems.

Analytical examples demonstrate how dissipation information is captured.

The approach clarifies the relationship between coarse-graining and dissipation.

Abstract

By different coarse-graining procedures we derive lower bounds on the total mean work dissipated in Brownian systems driven out of equilibrium. With several analytically solvable examples we illustrate how, when, and where the information on the dissipation is captured.