This thesis describes a method to control rare events in non-equilibrium systems by applying
physical forces to those systems but without relying on numerical simulation techniques such
as copying rare events. In order to study this method the book draws on the mathematical
structure of equilibrium statistical mechanics which connects large deviation functions with
experimentally measureable thermodynamic functions. Referring to this specific structure as the
phenomenological structure for the large deviation principle the author subsequently extends
it to time-series statistics that can be used to describe non-equilibrium physics. The book
features pedagogical explanations and also shows many open problems to which the proposed
method can be applied only to a limited extent. Beyond highlighting these challenging problems
as a point of departure it especially offers an effective means of description for rare events
which could become the next paradigm of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.
