No Arabic abstract
An overarching action principle, the principle of minimal free action, exists for ergodic Markov chain dynamics. Using this principle and the Detailed Fluctuation Theorem, we construct a dynamic ensemble theory for non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) of Markov chains, which is in full analogy with equilibrium canonical ensemble theory. Concepts such as energy, free energy, Boltzmann macro-sates, entropy, and thermodynamic limit all have their dynamic counterparts. For reversible Markov chains, minimization of Boltzmann free action yields thermal equilibrium states, and hence provide a dynamic justification of the principle of minimal free energy. For irreversible Markov chains, minimization of Boltzmann free action selects the stable NESS, and determines its macroscopic properties, including entropy production. A quadratic approximation of free action leads to linear-response theory with reciprocal relations built-in. Hence, in so much as non-equilibrium phenomena can be modeled as Markov processes, minimal free action serves as a basic principle for both equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical physics.
We study the continuous one-dimensional hard-sphere model and present irreversible local Markov chains that mix on faster time scales than the reversible heatbath or Metropolis algorithms. The mixing time scales appear to fall into two distinct universality classes, both faster than for reversible local Markov chains. The event-chain algorithm, the infinitesimal limit of one of these Markov chains, belongs to the class presenting the fastest decay. For the lattice-gas limit of the hard-sphere model, reversible local Markov chains correspond to the symmetric simple exclusion process (SEP) with periodic boundary conditions. The two universality classes for irreversible Markov chains are realized by the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP), and by a faster variant (lifted TASEP) that we propose here. Lifted Markov chains and the recently introduced factorized Metropolis acceptance rule extend the irreversible Markov chains discussed here to general pair interactions and to higher dimensions.
We examine how systems in non-equilibrium steady states close to a continuous phase transition can still be described by a Landau potential if one forgoes the assumption of analyticity. In a system simultaneously coupled to several baths at different temperatures, the non-analytic potential arises from the different density of states of the baths. In periodically driven-dissipative systems, the role of multiple baths is played by a single bath transferring energy at different harmonics of the driving frequency. The mean-field critical exponents become dependent on the low-energy features of the two most singular baths. We propose an extension beyond mean field.
We analyse and interpret the effects of breaking detailed balance on the convergence to equilibrium of conservative interacting particle systems and their hydrodynamic scaling limits. For finite systems of interacting particles, we review existing results showing that irreversible processes converge faster to their steady state than reversible ones. We show how this behaviour appears in the hydrodynamic limit of such processes, as described by macroscopic fluctuation theory, and we provide a quantitative expression for the acceleration of convergence in this setting. We give a geometrical interpretation of this acceleration, in terms of currents that are emph{antisymmetric} under time-reversal and orthogonal to the free energy gradient, which act to drive the system away from states where (reversible) gradient-descent dynamics result in slow convergence to equilibrium.
In living cells, ion channels passively allow for ions to flow through as the concentration gradient relaxes to thermal equilibrium. Most ion channels are selective, only allowing one type of ion to go through while blocking another. One salient example is KcsA, which allows for larger $text{K}^+$ ions through but blocks the smaller $text{Na}^+$ ions. This counter-intuitive selectivity has been explained by two distinct theories that both focus on equilibrium properties: particle-channel affinity and particle-solvent affinity. However, ion channels operate far from equilibrium. By constructing minimal kinetic models of channels, we discover a ubiquitous kinetic ratchet effect as a non-equilibrium mechanism to explain such selectivity. We find that a multi-site channel kinetically couples the competing flows of two types of particles, where one particles flow could suppress or even invert the flow of another type. At the inversion point (transition between the ratchet and dud modes), the channel achieves infinite selectivity. We have applied our theory to obtain general design principles of artificial selective channels.
We discuss a non-reversible Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm for particle systems, in which the direction of motion evolves deterministically. This sequential direction-sweep MCMC generalizes the widely spread MCMC sweep methods for particle or spin indices. The sequential direction-sweep MCMC can be applied to a wide range of original reversible or non-reversible Markov chains, such as the Metropolis algorithm or the event-chain Monte Carlo algorithm. For a simplified two-dimensional dipole model, we show rigorously that sequential MCMC leaves the stationary probability distribution unchanged, yet it profoundly modifies the Markov-chain trajectory. Long excursions, with persistent rotation in one direction, alternate with long sequences of rapid zigzags resulting in persistent rotation in the opposite direction. We show that sequential MCMC can have shorter mixing times than the algorithms with random updates of directions. We point out possible applications of sequential MCMC in polymer physics and in molecular simulation.