title: Entropy production in mesoscopic stochastic thermodynamics: nonequilibrium kinetic cycles driven by chemical potentials, temperatures, and mechanical forces.
abstract: Nonequilibrium thermodynamics (NET) investigates processes in systems out of global equilibrium. On a mesoscopic level, it provides a statistical dynamic description of various complex phenomena such as chemical reactions, ion transport, diffusion, thermochemical, thermomechanical and mechanochemical fluxes. In the present review, we introduce a mesoscopic stochastic formulation of NET by analyzing entropy production in several simple examples. The fundamental role of nonequilibrium steady-state cycle kinetics is emphasized. The statistical mechanics of Onsager's reciprocal relations in this context is elucidated. Chemomechanical, thermomechanical, and enzyme-catalyzed thermochemical energy transduction processes are discussed. It is argued that mesoscopic stochastic NET in phase space provides a rigorous mathematical basis of fundamental concepts needed for understanding complex processes in chemistry, physics and biology. This theory is also relevant for nanoscale technological advances.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Signe
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kjelstrup
authors.forename: Anatoly B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Kolomeisky
authors.forename: Dick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bedeaux
mesh_terms: D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D019277:Entropy; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D013696:Temperature