arXiv:0706.0559cond-mat.stat-mech
Measuring thermodynamic length
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Abstract
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 paper, we will consider how to define thermodynamic 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.
There's also an interesting set of applications in statistical physics: many systems can be modelled by Markov chains whose rate parameters can change through time. Changing these parameters non-quasistatically (i.e. so that the system does not relax to the appropriate steady…
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