Fluctuation Ratios in the Absence of Microscopic Time Reversibility

TL;DR

This paper investigates fluctuation ratios in diffusion-limited reaction systems out of equilibrium, revealing oscillations linked to probability currents and the violation of microscopic time reversibility.

Contribution

It introduces a numerically exact method to analyze fluctuation ratios and uncovers oscillatory behaviors associated with microscopic time reversibility violations.

Findings

Oscillations appear in fluctuation ratios under certain conditions.

Oscillations encode properties of probability currents.

Behavior differs based on the level of time reversibility violation.

Abstract

We study fluctuations in diffusion-limited reaction systems driven out of their stationary state. Using a numerically exact method, we investigate fluctuation ratios in various systems which differ by their level of violation of microscopic time reversibility. Studying a quantity that for an equilibrium system is related to the work done to the system, we observe that under certain conditions oscillations appear on top of an exponential behavior of transient fluctuation ratios. We argue that these oscillations encode properties of the probability currents in state space.