Notes about the Macroscopic Fluctuating Theory

TL;DR

This paper develops a practical framework for the Macroscopic Fluctuating Theory, analyzing stationary states, fluctuations, and correlations in systems described by Langevin dynamics, including equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a self-consistent approach to derive properties of macroscopic fluctuating systems, including quasi-potentials and correlation equations, extending the theory to nonequilibrium states.

Findings

Characterization of equilibrium and nonequilibrium stationary states.

Derivation of equations for two-body correlations.

Generalized Green-Kubo formulas from Large Deviation Principle.

Abstract

The Macroscopic Fluctuating Theory is presented from a practical and self consistent point of view. We take as starting point the assumption that a system at a mesoscopic scale is described by a field $\phi(x,t)$ that evolves by a Langevin equation that locally either conserves or not the field. Its dynamic behavior may also depend on the action of external agents on the bulk or/and at the system's boundaries. We derive the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation and the probability of a path and we use them to study general properties of the system's stationary state. In particular we focus on the study of the quasi-potential that defines the stationary distribution at the small noise limit. We argue that the system is at equilibrium when it is macroscopic reversible, that is when the most probable path to create a fluctuation from the stationary state is equal to the time reversed path that relaxes it. When this doesn't occur the system is in a nonequilibrium stationary state whose quasi-potential may present some lack of differentiability and/or long range action. We also derive closed equations for the two-body correlations at the stationary state and we apply them to some typical cases. Finally we obtain generalized Green-Kubo class of formulas by using the Large Deviation Principle.