Measuring thermodynamic length
Abstract
Thermodynamic length is a metric distance between equilibrium thermodynamic states. Among other interesting properties, this metric asymptotically bounds the dissipation induced by a finite time transformation of a thermodynamic system. It is also connected to the Jensen-Shannon divergence, Fisher information and Rao's entropy differential metric. Therefore, thermodynamic length is of central interest in understanding matter out-of-equilibrium. In this paper, we will consider how to define thermodynamic length for a small system described by equilibrium statistical mechanics and how to measure thermodynamic length within a computer simulation. Surprisingly, Bennett's classic acceptance ratio method for measuring free energy differences also measures thermodynamic length.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0706.0559,
title = {Measuring thermodynamic length},
author = {Gavin E. Crooks},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0706.0559},
year = {2011}
}