The Devil and the Details

Abstract: Fluctuation theorems provide a modern understanding of how the second law of thermodynamics operates at small length and time scales.  In this talk I will show in detail how fluctuation theorems are derived from microscopic principles, how they relate to the principle of detailed balance, and how they add to our understanding of the impossibility of violating the second law.  

I will also present details of experimental tests of fluctuation theorems. Although this will be the most technical of my three talks, I will emphasize that arduous calculations are not needed to derive fluctuation theorems.  Rather, these results emerge with relatively little effort, starting from a few basic assumptions. 

Bio: Christopher Jarzynski received his AB degree from Princeton University (1987) and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley (1994), both in Physics. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Nuclear Theory in Seattle, he spent ten years in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, first as a postdoc and then as a technical staff member. In 2006 he moved to the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a Distinguished University Professor with appointments in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the Institute for Physical Science and Technology, and the Department of Physics.

Jarzynski’s research interests include theoretical and computational work at the interface of physics, chemistry and biology, with a particular focus on nonequilibrium phenomena and the application of thermodynamic principles to microscopic systems. In 1996 he derived an equality that relates irreversible work to equilibrium free energy differences, which has been verified in numerous experiments over the past two decades. His recent research focus includes quantum control and thermodynamics, the thermodynamic arrow of time, and the physical implications of information processing. His has received the Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences (2005), the Lars Onsager Prize in theoretical statistical physics (2019), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2020), among other awards.

He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences.

Zoom Meeting Link: https://uoft.me/Jarzynski2026
Zoom Meeting ID: 869 9225 6585
Passcode: Gordon2026

The Department of Chemistry is pleased to welcome Professor Christopher Jarzynski from the University of Maryland as our guest speaker for the 2025–2026 A.R. Gordon Distinguished Lecture Series. Professor Jarzynski will deliver three talks from April 15–17, 2026. Faculty members interested in a one-on-one meeting with Professor Jarzynski are invited to send requests to chem.reception@utoronto.ca. To learn more about the A.R. Gordon Distinguished Lecture Series, view a list of previous speakers or download a program for this symposium, click here.