Comment on "Inferring broken detailed balance in the absence of observable currents"

Abstract

We present a simple biophysical example that invalidates the main conclusion of "Nat. Commun. 10, 3542 (2019)". Moreover, we explain that systems with one or more hidden states between at least one pair of observed states that give rise to non-instantaneous transition paths between these states also invalidate the main conclusion of the aforementioned work. This provides a flexible roadmap for constructing counterexamples. We hope for this comment to raise awareness of possibly hidden transition paths and of the importance of considering the microscopic origin of emerging non-Markovian (or Markovian) dynamics for thermodynamics.