Minimum entropy production and logarithmic rate equations

A system interacting with a heat bath and radiation is considered. It is assumed that the steady state is exactly characterized by the principle of minimum entropy production. From this, the general form of the equations for the time rate of change of the probabilities of the states is derived and the rate equations are shown to be nonlinear and to involve the differences of the logarithms of the probabilities. Some properties of these equations are discussed and the specific cases of two- and three-state subsystems are considered and compared with results obtained from the usual linear rate equations.