Stochastic Thermodynamics

Introduces stochastic thermodynamics, including fluctuation theorems and the thermodynamic uncertainty relation with representative applications.

Udo Seifert (Author)

9781316519554, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 June 2025

493 pages
25 x 17.7 x 3.1 cm, 1.22 kg

'Over the past twenty-five years spectacular progress has been accomplished to extend thermodynamic concepts to individual random trajectories. Udo Seifert's book is an authoritative and masterly account of the novel theoretical concepts underlying stochastic thermodynamics, including their use in real life applications. This will be an indispensable companion for students and teachers alike.' Herbert Spohn, Technical University of Munich, Germany

Stochastic thermodynamics has emerged as a comprehensive theoretical framework for a large class of non-equilibrium systems including molecular motors, biochemical reaction networks, colloidal particles in time-dependent laser traps, and bio-polymers under external forces. This book introduces the topic in a systematic way, beginning with a dynamical perspective on equilibrium statistical physics. Key concepts like the identification of work, heat and entropy production along individual stochastic trajectories are then developed and shown to obey various fluctuation relations beyond the well-established linear response regime. Representative applications are then discussed, including simple models of molecular motors, small chemical reaction networks, active particles, stochastic heat engines and information machines involving Maxwell demons. This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers of physics, biophysics, and physical chemistry, with an interest in non-equilibrium phenomena.

1. From classical mechanics to statistical mechanics
2. Canonical distribution
3. Processes, first and second laws
4. Work distributions from Hamiltonian trajectories
5. Discrete states: Equilibrium, relaxation and time-dependent driving
6. Enzymes and enzymatic reactions
7. Thermodynamically consistent asymmetric random walk
8. Non-equilibrium steady states
9. Brownian motion
10. Driven colloidal particle
11. Correlation and linear response
12. Molecular motors
13. Chemical reaction networks
14. Active particles
15. Stochastic heat engines
16. Information processing
17. Coarse-graining
18. Langevin dynamics: Advanced topics
19. Large deviations
20. Optimization
Appendix A. Some technical tools for Chapter 1
Appendix B. Hamiltonian dynamics and Liouville's theorem
Appendix C. Isobaric description or 'pressure ensemble'
Appendix D. Legendre transformations
Appendix E. Gaussian random variables and random functions
Appendix F. Supplement on the dynamics for systems with discrete states
Appendix G. Supplement on interacting particles
Appendix H. Local equilibrium and the identification of heat current
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Statistical physics [PHS]