  We determine the complete asymptotic behaviour of the work distribution in
driven stochastic systems described by Langevin equations. Special emphasis is
put on the calculation of the pre-exponential factor which makes the result
free of adjustable parameters. The method is applied to various examples and
excellent agreement with numerical simulations is demonstrated. For the special
case of parabolic potentials with time-dependent frequencies, we derive a
universal functional form for the asymptotic work distribution.

Statistical Mechanics