Entropy production from waiting-time distributions for overdamped Langevin dynamics

Abstract: For a Markovian dynamics on discrete states, the logarithmic ratio of waiting-time distributions between two successive, instantaneous transitions in forward and backward direction is a measure of time-irreversibility. It thus serves as an entropy estimator, which is exact in the case of a uni-cyclic network. We adopt this framework to overdamped Langevin dynamics, where such transitions have finite duration. By introducing milestones based on the observation of a particle at at least three points, we identify an entropy estimator that becomes exact for driven motion along a one-dimensional potential.