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 to modify the basic relation between dissipation and time-reversal and to include a contribution arising from the non-causal 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 be also 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 which are both analytically tractable and experimentally relevant.