Dynamical equivalence classes for Markov jump processes

Abstract

Two different Markov jump processes driven out of equilibrium by constant thermodynamic forces may have identical current fluctuations in the stationary state. The concept of equivalence classes emerges from this statement as proposed by Andrieux for discrete-time Markov chains on simple graphs. We define equivalence classes in the context of continuous-time Markov chains on multigraphs using the symmetric part of the rate matrices that define the dynamics. The freedom on the skew symmetric part is at the core of the dynamical freedom inside an equivalence class. It arises from different splittings of the thermodynamic forces onto the system's transitions.