APS » PROLA » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 78 » Issue 14

Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2690 - 2693 (1997)

Nonequilibrium Equality for Free Energy Differences
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C. Jarzynski
Institute for Nuclear Theory, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195

Received 7 June 1996

An expression is derived for the equilibrium free energy difference between two configurations of a system, in terms of an ensemble of finite-time measurements of the work performed in parametrically switching from one configuration to the other. Two well-known identities emerge as limiting cases of this result.


©1997 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v78/p2690
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2690
PACS: 05.70.Ln, 87.10.+e, 82.20.Wt

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