Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/iii/paper-356/1/a/solution

Let be the transition rate from to and define the probability current . The master equation is . Differentiating the Shannon entropy and symmetrizing gives
Adding the entropy flow to the environment produces the nonnegative entropy production rate of a Markov chain
The paper's displayed is the negative of the thermodynamic system entropy, so its derivative has the opposite sign before the environmental contribution is added.

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