What is the best description that we can construct of a thermodynamic system that is not in equilibrium, given only one, or a few, extra parameters over and above those needed for a description of the same system at equilibrium? Here, we argue the most appropriate additional parameter is the non-equilibrium entropy of the system, and that we should not attempt to estimate the probability distribution of the system, but rather the metaprobability (or hyperensemble) that the system is described by a particular probability distribution. The result is an entropic distribution with two parameters, one a non-equilibrium temperature, and the other a measure of distance from equilibrium. This dispersion parameter smoothly interpolates between certainty of a canonical distribution at equilibrium and great uncertainty as to the probability distribution as we move away from equilibrium. We deduce that, in general, large, rare fluctuations become far more common as we move away from equilibrium.

The dynamics of an open quantum system can be described by a quantum operation: A linear, complete positive map of operators. Here, I exhibit a compact expression for the time reversal of a quantum operation, which is closely analogous to the time reversal of a classical Markov transition matrix. Since open quantum dynamics are stochastic, and not, in general, deterministic, the time reversal is not, in general, an inversion of the dynamics. Rather, the system relaxes toward equilibrium in both the forward and reverse time directions. The probability of a quantum trajectory and the conjugate, time reversed trajectory are related by the heat exchanged with the environment.

Thermodynamic length is a metric distance between equilibrium thermodynamic states. Among other interesting properties, this metric asymptotically bounds the dissipation induced by a finite time transformation of a thermodynamic system. It is also connected to the Jensen-Shannon divergence, Fisher information, and Rao's entropy differential metric. Therefore, thermodynamic length is of central interest in understanding matter out of equilibrium. In this Letter, we will consider how to denethermodynamic length for a small system described by equilibrium statistical mechanics and how to measure thermodynamic length within a computer simulation. Surprisingly, Bennett's classic acceptance ratio method for measuring free energy differences also measures thermodynamic length.

In this note, we will discuss how to compactly express the Jarzynski identity for an open quantum system with dissipative dynamics. In quantum dynamics we must avoid explicitly measuring the work directly, which is tantamount to continuously monitoring the state of the system, and instead measure the heat ?ow from the environment. These measurements can be concisely represented with Hermitian map superoperators, which provide a convenient and compact representations of correlation functions and sequential measurements of quantum systems.

The incongruous "unexpected inapplicability of the [Crook's fluctuation theorem]" is due to an inexplicable, inappropriate use of inconsistent expressions. The girding is secure.

We consider the adiabatic and quasi-static compression of a dilute classical gas, confined in a piston and initially equilibrated with a heat bath. We find that the work performed during this process is described statistically by a gamma distribution. We use this result to show that the model satisfies the non-equilibrium work and fluctuation theorems, but not the fluctation-dissipation relation. We discuss the rare but dominant realizations that contribute most to the exponential average of the work, and relate our results to potentially universal work distributions.