A simple proof of the Jarzynski equality?

Abstract

In this short communication, I give a very simple derivation of the Jarzynski equality, which allows to compute the free energy difference of a body, which is driven between two equilibrium states $A$ and $B$ by an external (time-dependent) force, from the probability distribution function of the work done on the system, regardless of the nature of the transformation (reversible or irreversible) between the states $A$ and $B$. It perhaps throws some light on the debate recently started by Cohen and coworkers, and perhaps explains why all the experiments which has been performed in order to test the Jarzynski equality are successful, even in very defavorable (irreversible) cases (and more strikingly, when the state $B$ is not an equilibrium one).