Irreversible spherical model and its stationary entropy production rate

The nonequilibrium stationary state of an irreversible spherical model is investigated on hypercubic lattices. The model is defined by Langevin equations similar to the reversible case, but with asymmetric transition rates. In spite of being irreversible, we have succeeded in finding an explicit form for the stationary probability distribution, which turns out to be of the Boltzmann–Gibbs type. This enables one to evaluate the exact form of the entropy production rate at the stationary state, which is non-zero if the dynamical rules of the transition rates are asymmetric. (paper)