Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics and Stochasticity, A Phenomenological Look on Jarzynki's Equality

TL;DR

This paper extends phenomenological non-equilibrium thermodynamics by incorporating stochastic processes, providing a new interpretation of Jarzynski's equality through four axioms, emphasizing protocol independence of exponential work averages.

Contribution

It introduces a phenomenological framework with axioms that interpret Jarzynski's equality, linking stochastic thermodynamics with classical phenomenological principles.

Findings

Jarzynski's equality derived from protocol independence of exponential work

Four axioms underpin the phenomenological interpretation

Provides a new perspective on stochastic thermodynamics

Abstract

The theory of phenomenological Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics is extended by includimg stochastic processes in order to account for recently derived thermodynamical relations such as the Jarzynski equality. Four phenomenological axioms are postulated resulting in a phenomenological interpretation of Jarzynski's equality. Especially, considering the class of Jarzynski processes Jarzynski's equality follows from the axiom that the statistical average of the exponential work is protocol independent.