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  • Open Access

Mutual Linearity Is a Generic Property of Steady-State Markov Networks

Robin Bebon and Thomas Speck*

  • *Contact author: thomas.speck@itp4.uni-stuttgart.de
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 137401 – Published 31 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jcm3-57d8

Abstract

Understanding and predicting how complex systems respond to external perturbations is a central challenge in nonequilibrium statistical physics. Here, we consider continuous-time Markov networks, which we subject to perturbations along a single edge. We find that in steady state the probabilities of any two states are linearly related to one another. We show that this mutual linearity of probabilities extends to a broad class of observables, including currents but also generic counting and state-dependent observables. Moreover, we derive an exact relation between the relative response of any state’s probability and the ratio of two steady-state probabilities. Leveraging the Markov chain tree theorem, we further show that probabilities and the considered observables are constrained by the topological and kinetic properties of the network and provide analytical expressions in terms of spanning tree polynomials. Our results are general, holding for arbitrary rate parametrizations and extending far from equilibrium.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 137401– Published 31 March, 2026
  • Received 3 July 2025
  • Accepted 20 February 2026
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