Untangling Dissipative and Hamiltonian effects in bulk and boundary driven systems

TL;DR

This paper extends macroscopic fluctuation theory to non-diffusive systems, explicitly decomposing forces into dissipative and non-dissipative components, and shows how non-dissipative forces induce Hamiltonian dynamics, supported by numerical examples.

Contribution

It introduces a decomposition of large-deviation costs into dissipative and non-dissipative parts for non-diffusive systems, revealing Hamiltonian behavior.

Findings

Explicit calculation of dissipative and non-dissipative forces in a linear network

Decomposition of large-deviation cost into orthogonal components

Non-dissipative forces induce Hamiltonian dynamics

Abstract

Using the theory of large deviations, macroscopic fluctuation theory provides a framework to understand the behaviour of non-equilibrium dynamics and steady states in diffusive systems. We extend this framework to a minimal model of non-equilibrium non-diffusive system, specifically an open linear network on a finite graph. We explicitly calculate the dissipative bulk and boundary forces that drive the system towards the steady state, and non-dissipative bulk and boundary forces that drives the system in orbits around the steady state. Using the fact that these forces are orthogonal in a certain sense, we provide a decomposition of the large-deviation cost into dissipative and non-dissipative terms. We establish that the purely non-dissipative force turns the dynamics into a Hamiltonian system. These theoretical findings are illustrated by numerical examples.