Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Measuring Thermodynamic Length

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
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 interestin understanding matter out of equilibrium. In this Letter, we will consider how to denethermodynamic 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.
Research Organization:
Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
Sponsoring Organization:
Physical Biosciences Division
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
960377
Report Number(s):
LBNL-1924E
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Vol. 99; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Properties of classical and quantum Jensen-Shannon divergence
Journal Article · Fri May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review. A · OSTI ID:21300819

Far-from-equilibrium measurements of thermodynamic length
Journal Article · Tue Nov 04 23:00:00 EST 2008 · Physical Review E · OSTI ID:944530

Thermodynamic length and dissipated availability
Journal Article · Mon Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 1983 · Phys. Rev. Lett.; (United States) · OSTI ID:5464867