Lag inequality for birth-death processes with time-dependent rates

摘要

A fluctuation theorem has recently been derived for systems described by univariate birth-death equations or chemical master equations (Seifert U 2004 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 37 L517-2 1). We discuss an inequality that follows from this theorem. Focusing on the case of Poissonian stationary distributions, we show that this inequality can also be derived from a deterministic rate equation, in the limit of large system size. We relate these results to recent work on transitions between nonequilibrium stationary states.