Entropy production and fluctuation theorems for Langevin processes under continuous non-Markovian feedback control.

Abstract

Continuous feedback control of Langevin processes may be non-Markovian due to a time lag between the measurement and the control action. We show that this requires one to modify the basic relation between dissipation and time reversal and to include a contribution arising from the noncausal character of the reverse process. We then propose a new definition of the quantity measuring the irreversibility of a path in a nonequilibrium stationary state, which can also be regarded as the trajectory-dependent total entropy production. This leads to an extension of the second law, which takes a simple form in the long-time limit. As an illustration, we apply the general approach to linear systems that are both analytically tractable and experimentally relevant.