We will give a gentle introduction of weak KAM theory and then reinterpret Freidlin-Wentzell's variational construction of the rate function in the large deviation principle for invariant measures from the weak KAM perspective. We will use one-dimensional irreversible diffusion process on torus to illustrate some essential concepts in the weak KAM theory such as the Peierls barrier, the projected Mather/Aubry/Mane sets. We provide alternative proofs for Freidlin-Wentzell's variational formulas for both self-consistent boundary data at each local attractors and for the rate function are formulated as the global adjustment for the boundary data and the local trimming from the lifted Peierls barriers. Based on this, we proved the rate function is a weak KAM solution to the corresponding stationary Hamilton-Jacobi equation satisfying the selected boundary data on projected Aubry set, which is also the maximal Lipschitz continuous viscosity solution. The rate function is the selected unique weak KAM solution and also serves as the global energy landscape of the original stochastic process. A probability interpretation of the global energy landscape from the weak KAM perspective will also be discussed. This is a joint work with Yuan Gao of Purdue University
Romain Duboscq, Ariane Trescases
