Global optimization and monotonicity in entropy production of weak drivings.

Abstract

Knowing if an optimal solution is local or global has always been a hard question to answer in more sophisticated situations of optimization problems. In this paper, for finite-time and weak isothermal driving processes, we show the existence of a global optimal protocol for the entropy production. We prove this by showing its convexity as a functional in the derivative of the protocol. This property also proves its monotonicity in such a context, which leads to the satisfaction of the second law of thermodynamics. In the end, we exemplify that the analytical technique of the Euler-Lagrange equation applied to overdamped Brownian motion delivers the global optimal protocol, by comparing it with the results of the global optimization technique of genetic programming.