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Nonequilibrium grand-canonical ensemble built from a physical particle reservoir

We introduce a nonequilibrium grand-canonical ensemble defined by considering the stationary state of a driven system of particles put in contact with a nonequilibrium particle reservoir. At odds with its equilibrium counterpart, or with purely formal constructions of a grand-canonical ensemble, this physically-motivated construction yields a grand-canonical distribution that depends on the details of the contact dynamics between the system and the reservoir. For non-interacting driven particles, a grand-canonical chemical potential can still be defined, although this chemical potential now differs from that of the reservoir. However, in the general case, the usual exponential factor (in the particle number) defining the grand-canonical chemical potential, is replaced by the exponential of a non-linear function of the density, this function being proportional to the volume. This case is illustrated explicitly on a one-dimensional lattice model. Although a grand-canonical chemical potential can no longer be defined in this case, it is possible for a subclass of contact dynamics to generalize the equilibrium fluctuation-response relation by introducing a small external potential difference between the system and the reservoir.