Nonequilibrium fluctuation response relation in a time scale separated system

Abstract

We present a theoretical framework to analyze the violation of fluctuation-response relation (FRR) for any observable from a finite Markov system with two well-separated time scales. We find that, generally for both slow and fast observables, a broad plateau exists in the intermediate frequency region, which contributes to a finite hidden entropy production. Assuming that non-equilibrium behavior arises only from coupling of slow and fast processes, we find that, at large observation time scae, the effective temperature for a slow observable deviates only slightly from the bath temperature, accompanied by an emerging well-defined effective potential landscape, while the deviation is significant for a fast observable. Our study also identifies a wider range of applicability of the Harada-Sasa equality in Markov jumping systems.