Entropy production and Onsager reciprocal relations describing the relaxation to equilibrium in stochastic thermodynamics

Stefano Giordano (1, 2)

1 IEMN - Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520
2 AIMAN-FILMS - IEMN - Acoustique Impulsionnelle & Magnéto-Acoustique Non linéaire - Fluides, Interfaces Liquides & Micro-Systèmes - IEMN

We study the relation between stochastic thermodynamics and non-equilibrium thermodynamics by evaluating the entropy production and the relation between fluxes and forces in a harmonic system with N particles in contact with N different reservoirs. We suppose that the system is in a non-equilibrium stationary state in a first phase and we study the relaxation to equilibrium in a second phase. During this relaxation, we can identify the linear relation between fluxes and forces satisfying the Onsager reciprocity and we obtain a nonlinear expression for the entropy production. Only when forces and fluxes are small, the entropic production turns into a quadratic form in the forces, as predicted by the Onsager theory.

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Stefano Giordano. Entropy production and Onsager reciprocal relations describing the relaxation to equilibrium in stochastic thermodynamics. Physical Review E , 2021, 103 (5), 052116,13 p. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevE.103.052116⟩. ⟨hal-03236065⟩