Thermodynamic uncertainty relation from involutions

Abstract

The Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relation (TUR) is a lower bound for the variance of a current as a function of the average entropy production and average current. Depending on the assumptions, one obtains different versions of the TUR. For instance, from the exchange fluctuation theorem, one obtains a corresponding exchange TUR. Alternatively, we show that TURs are a consequence of a very simple property: every process $s$ has only one inverse $s'=m(s)$, where $m$ is an involution, $m(m(s))=s$. This property allows the derivation of a general TUR without using any fluctuation theorem. As applications, we obtain the exchange TUR, the asymmetric TUR, a fluctuation-response inequality and lower bounds for the entropy production in terms of other nonequilibrium metrics.