THERMODYNAMIC TIME ASYMMETRY AND NONEQUILIBRIUM STATISTICAL MECHANICS

A review of recent advances in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics is presented. These new results explain how the time reversal symmetry is broken in the statistical description of nonequilibrium processes and the thermodynamic entropy production finds its origin in the time asymmetry of nonequilibrium fluctuations. These advances are based on new relationships expressing the time asymmetry in terms of the temporal disorder and the probability distributions of nonequilibrium fluctuations. These relationships apply to driven Brownian motion and molecular motors.