title: Path integral analysis of Jarzynski's equality: analytical results.
abstract: We apply path integrals to study nonequilibrium work theorems in the context of Brownian dynamics, deriving in particular the equations of motion governing the most typical and most dominant trajectories. For the analytically soluble cases of a moving harmonic potential and a harmonic oscillator with a time-dependent natural frequency, we find such trajectories, evaluate the work-weighted propagators, and validate Jarzynski's equality.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical Physics, NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-0520, USA. daveminh@gmail.com
authors.forename: David D L
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Minh
authors.forename: Artur B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Adib
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009991:Oscillometry / Q000379:methods*