Fluctuations and large deviations in non-equilibrium systems

For systems in contact with two reservoirs at different densities or with two thermostats at different temperatures, the large deviation function of the density gives a possible way of extending the notion of free energy to non-equilibrium systems. This large deviation function of the density can be calculated explicitly for exclusion models in one dimension with open boundary conditions. For these models, one can also obtain the distribution of the current of particles flowing through the system and the results lead to a simple conjecture for the large deviation function of the current of more general diffusive systems.