Dissipation: The phase-space perspective

Abstract

We show, through a refinement of the work theorem, that the average dissipation, upon perturbing a Hamiltonian system arbitrarily far out of equilibrium in a transition between two canonical equilibrium states, is exactly given by $<W_{diss} > = < W > -\Delta F =kT D(\rho\|\widetilde{\rho})= kT < \ln (\rho/\widetilde{\rho})>$, where $\rho$ and $\widetilde{\rho}$ are the phase space density of the system measured at the same intermediate but otherwise arbitrary point in time, for the forward and backward process. $D(\rho\|\widetilde{\rho})$ is the relative entropy of $\rho$ versus $\widetilde{\rho}$. This result also implies general inequalities, which are significantly more accurate than the second law and include, as a special case, the celebrated Landauer principle on the dissipation involved in irreversible computations.