Detailed Fluctuation Theorems: A Unifying Perspective

Abstract

We present a general method to identify an arbitrary number of fluctuating quantities which satisfy a detailed fluctuation theorem for all times within the framework of time-inhomogeneous Markovian jump processes. In doing so, we provide a unified perspective on many fluctuation theorems derived in the literature. By complementing the stochastic dynamics with a thermodynamic structure (i.e., using stochastic thermodynamics), we also express these fluctuating quantities in terms of physical observables.

Keywords

• stochastic thermodynamics
• fluctuation theorem
• Markov jump process
• entropy production
• graph theory
• conservation laws