Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 010601 (2008) [4 pages]Reversibility, Heat Dissipation, and the Importance of the Thermal Environment in Stochastic Models of Nonequilibrium Steady StatesReceived 30 July 2007; published 8 January 2008 We examine stochastic processes that are used to model nonequilibrium processes (e.g., pulling RNA or dragging colloids) and so deliberately violate detailed balance. We argue that by combining an information-theoretic measure of irreversibility with nonequilibrium work theorems, the thermal physics implied by abstract dynamics can be determined. This measure is bounded above by thermodynamic entropy production and so may quantify how well a stochastic dynamics models reality. We also use our findings to critique various modeling approaches and notions arising in steady-state thermodynamics. © 2008 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.010601
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.010601
PACS:
05.40.−a, 05.70.Ln, 65.40.G−, 89.70.−a
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