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Singularities in large deviation functions

Large deviation functions of configurations exhibit very different behaviors in and out of thermal equilibrium. In particular, they exhibit singularities in a broad range of non-equilibrium models, which are absent in equilibrium. These singularities were first identified in finite-dimensional systems in the weak-noise limit. Recent studies have shown that they are also present in driven diffusive systems with an infinite-dimensional configuration space. This short review describes singularities appearing in both types of systems under a unified framework, presenting a classification of singularities into two broad categories. The types of singularities which were identified for finite-dimensional cases are compared to those found in driven diffusive systems.