Decomposition of the entropy production rate and nonequilibrium thermodynamics of switching diffusion processes

Abstract

A switching diffusion process (SDP) is a widely used stochastic model in physics and biology, especially for molecular motors that exhibit a discrete internal chemical kinetics as well as a continuous external mechanical motion. The nonequilibrium thermodynamics of switching diffusion processes has not been extensively studied yet. In the present paper, we propose the decomposition of the entropy production rate in one-dimensional SDPs, based on the flux decomposition. However, similar decompositions of the housekeeping heat dissipation rate and free energy dissipation rate cannot guarantee the non-negativity of each decomposed component. Hence, we modify this decomposition with the flow of exponential relative information under steady-state fluxes, resulting in another decomposition with all non-negative components. Furthermore, we also provide the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of one-dimensional SDPs under the perspectives of coarse -graining and exchange of information between the chemical kinetics and mechanical motion, resulting in several other decompositions of entropy production rate. Finally, we generalize all the results to high-dimensional SDPs with a more general mathematical treatment.