Optimal driving of isothermal processes close to equilibrium

We investigate how to minimize the work dissipated during nonequilibrium processes. To this end, we employ methods from linear response theory to describe slowly varying processes, i.e., processes operating within the linear regime around quasistatic driving. As a main result, we find that the irreversible work can be written as a functional that depends only on the correlation time and the fluctuations of the generalized force conjugated to the driving parameter. To deepen the physical insight of our approach, we discuss various self-consistent expressions for the response function, and derive the correlation time in closed form. Finally, our findings are illustrated with several analytically solvable examples. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.