Equation 12 · The Statistical Mechanics of Irreversibility at Molecular Scale
What does this equation mean?
Read the formula alongside the article passage below. Each part has a deeper page with its role in the equation, the supporting passage and nearby citations.
This mathematical expression combines the displayed quantities; its precise role follows from the surrounding article text. Read the equation part by part below; each part has a contextual explanation and a link to its mathematical background.
Read it piece by piece
Symbol Δ F
Δ F is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.
change
Capital delta attached to a quantity marks a difference between two values of that quantity; the article’s sign convention determines the order.
How to interpret it
Read this expression with the definitions, units, and assumptions supplied by the article.
What the article says around this equation
In equilibrium statistical mechanics, the free-energy difference F between two control-parameter values is a state function. A rapid drive between them generally performs work W> F on average because dissipation is positive. It would seem that estimating F requires an impractically slow, quasistatic protocol. The Jarzynski equality demonstrates otherwise:
Sources cited in the article section
- [2] Nonequilibrium Equality for Free Energy Differences ↗
- [3] Entropy production fluctuation theorem and the nonequilibrium work relation for free energy differences ↗
These citations give research context. Read each source to check which claims it supports.
Return to The Statistical Mechanics of Irreversibility at Molecular Scale