Exponential volume dependence of entropy-current fluctuations at first-order phase transitions in chemical reaction networks

Abstract: In chemical reaction networks, bistability can only occur far from equilibrium. It is associated with a first-order phase transition where the control parameter is the thermodynamic force. At the bistable point, the entropy production is known to be discontinuous with respect to the thermodynamic force.We show that the fluctuations of the entropy production have an exponential volume-dependence when the system is bistable. At the phase transition, the exponential prefactor is the height of the effective potential barrier between the two fixed-points. Our results obtained for Schl\"ogl's model can be extended to any chemical network.