C. Jarzynski, EQUILIBRIUM FREE-ENERGY DIFFERENCES FROM NONEQUILIBRIUM MEASUREMENTS - A MASTER-EQUATION APPROACH, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics, 56(5), 1997, pp. 5018-5035
In has recently been shown that the Helmholtz free-energy difference b
etween two equilibrium configurations of a system may be obtained from
an ensemble of finite-time (nonequilibrium) measurements of the work
performed in switching an external parameter of the system. Here this
result is established, as an identity, within the master equation form
alism. Examples are discussed and numerical illustrations provided.