1012.2209 (Markus Heyl et al.)

The Crooks relation and its connection to the detailed balance principle
of equilibrium correlation functions    [PDF]

Markus Heyl, Stefan Kehrein

We show that in the quantum case any work distribution can be related to an equilibrium correlation function in an extended Hilbert space. As a consequence of this identification the Crooks relation is a restatement of the detailed balance principle for equilibrium correlation functions. The presented derivation serves as an alternative proof of the Crooks relation residing only on the detailed balance principle.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.2209