  Fluctuation theorems impose constraints on possible work extraction
probabilities in thermodynamical processes. These constraints are stronger than
the usual second law, which is concerned only with average values. Here, we
show that such constraints, expressed in the form of the Jarzysnki equality,
can be bypassed if one allows for the use of catalysts - additional degrees of
freedom that may become correlated with the system from which work is
extracted, but whose reduced state remains unchanged so that they can be
re-used. This violation can be achieved both for small systems but also for
macroscopic many-body systems and leads to positive work extraction per
particle with finite probability from macroscopic states in equilibrium. In
addition to studying such violations for a single system, we also discuss the
scenario in which many parties use the same catalyst to induce local
transitions. We show that there exist catalytic processes that lead to highly
correlated work distributions, expected to have implications for stochastic and
quantum thermodynamics.
