Entropy production in the non-equilibrium steady states of interacting many-body systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates entropy production in non-equilibrium steady states of interacting many-body systems, highlighting the role of large deviation functions and fluctuation theorems in characterizing these states.

Contribution

It demonstrates the presence of a kink in the large deviation function of entropy production, linking it to fluctuation theorems in many-body systems.

Findings

Large deviation function exhibits a kink at zero entropy production.

Kink is related to the detailed fluctuation theorem.

Features are similar to single-particle driven systems.

Abstract

Entropy production is one of the most important characteristics of non-equilibrium steady states. We study here the steady-state entropy production, both at short times as well as in the long-time limit, of two important classes of non-equilibrium systems: transport systems and reaction-diffusion systems. The usefulness of the mean entropy production rate and of the large deviation function of the entropy production for characterizing non-equilibrium steady states of interacting many-body systems is discussed. We show that the large deviation function displays a kink-like feature at zero entropy production that is similar to that observed for a single particle driven along a periodic potential. This kink is a direct consequence of the detailed fluctuation theorem fulfilled by the probability distribution of the entropy production and is therefore a generic feature of the corresponding large deviation function.