Nonequilibrium quantum transport coefficients and transient dynamics of full counting statistics in the strong-coupling and non-Markovian regimes

An expression is derived for the classical free energy difference between two configurations of a system, in terms of an ensemble of finite-time measurements of the work performed in parametrically switching from one configuration to the other. Two well-known equilibrium identities emerge as limiting cases of this result.

There are only a very few known relations in statistical dynamics that are valid for systems driven arbitrarily far-from-equilibrium. One of these is the fluctuation theorem, which places conditions on the entropy production probability distribution of nonequilibrium systems. Another recently discovered far-from-equilibrium expression relates nonequilibrium measurements of the work done on a system to equilibrium free energy differences. In this paper, we derive a generalized version of the fluctuation theorem for stochastic, microscopically reversible dynamics. Invoking this generalized theorem provides a succinct proof of the nonequilibrium work relation.

Fluctuation theorems (FTs), which describe some universal properties of nonequilibrium fluctuations, are examined from a quantum perspective and derived by introducing a two-point measurement on the system. FTs for closed and open systems driven out of equilibrium by an external time-dependent force, and for open systems maintained in a nonequilibrium steady-state by nonequilibrium boundary conditions, are derived from a unified approach. Applications to fermion and boson transport in quantum junctions are discussed. Quantum master equations and Green's functions techniques for computing the energy and particle statistics are presented.