Low temperature behavior of nonequilibrium multilevel systems

In this paper, we give a low temperature formula for the stationary occupations in Markovian systems away from detailed balance. Two applications are discussed, one to determine the direction of the ratchet current and one on population inversion. Both of these applications can take advantage of low temperatures to improve the gain and typical nonequilibrium features. Our new formula brings to the foreground the importance of kinetic aspects in terms of reactivities for deciding the levels with highest occupation and, thus, gives a detailed quantitative meaning to Landauer's blowtorch theorem at low temperatures. (paper)