Bringing thermodynamics to non-equilibrium microscopic processes

We present recent developments that extend the applicability of thermodynamic concepts deep into mesoscopic and irreversible regimes. We show how a probabilistic interpretation of thermodynamics together with probability conservation laws can be used to obtain Fokker-Planck equations for the relevant degrees of freedom. This approach provides a systematic method to obtain the stochastic dynamics of a system directly from the knowledge of its equilibrium properties. A wide variety of situations can be studied in this way, including many that were thought to be out of reach of thermodynamic theories, such as non-linear transport in the presence of potential barriers, activated processes, slow relaxation phenomena, and basic processes in biomolecules, like translocation and stretching.