Fluctuation theorem for stochastic dynamics

Jorge Kurchan

Published 1997-09-26, updated 1998-02-22Version 2

The fluctuation theorem of Gallavotti and Cohen holds for finite systems undergoing Langevin dynamics. In such a context all non-trivial ergodic theory issues are by-passed, and the theorem takes a particularly simple form. As a particular case, we obtain a nonlinear fluctuation-dissipation theorem valid for equilibrium systems perturbed by arbitrarily strong fields.