Optically confined colloidal particles, when placed in close proximity, form a dissipatively coupled system through hydrodynamic interactions. The role of such interactions influencing irreversibility and energy dissipation in out-of-equilibrium systems is often not well deciphered. Here, we demonstrate—through the estimation of the entropy production rate—that the nonequilibrium features of the system with such interactions vary depending on the nature of external driving, and importantly, on the level of coarse graining. Crucially, we show that coarse graining reverses the dependence of the measured entropy production rate on the strength of the hydrodynamic interactions. Furthermore, we clarify that such interactions do not violate energy balance at the level of individual trajectories, as was believed earlier. Our results highlight a previously unnoticed effect of coarse graining in nonequilibrium systems, and have implications for the inference of entropy production in experimental contexts.

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• Entropy production
• Colloids
• Hydrodynamics
• Optical tweezers
• Statistical methods