Thermodynamic bounds on time-reversal asymmetry.

Abstract

Quantifying irreversibility of a system using finite information constitutes a major challenge in stochastic thermodynamics. We introduce an observable that measures the time-reversal asymmetry between two states after a given time lag. Our central result is a bound on the time-reversal asymmetry in terms of the total cycle affinity driving the system out of equilibrium. This result leads to further thermodynamic bounds on the asymmetry of directed fluxes, on the asymmetry of finite-time cross-correlations, and on the cycle affinity of coarse-grained dynamics.