Counterexamples to the conjectured ordering between the waiting-time bound and the thermodynamic uncertainty bound on entropy production

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Authors: Jie Gu
Cited by: 0

Abstract

Two widely used model-free lower bounds on the steady-state entropy production rate of a continuous-time Markov jump process are the thermodynamic uncertainty relation (TUR) bound $σ_\text{TUR}$, derived from the mean and variance of a current, and the waiting-time distribution (WTD) bound $σ_\mathcal{L}$, derived from the irreversibility of partially observed transition sequences together with their waiting times. It has been conjectured that $σ_{\mathcal L}$ is always at least as tight as $σ_{\mathrm{TUR}}$ when both are constructed from the same partially observed link. Here we provide four-state counterexamples in a nonequilibrium steady state where $σ_{\mathcal L}

Fields of Study & Subjects

Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics Statistical Mechanics and Entropy Quantum many-body systems

Publication details

Journal / source
arXiv (Cornell University)
Publication date
7 January 2026
Document type
Preprint