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A general formulation of stochastic thermodynamics is presented for open systems exchanging energy and particles with multiple reservoirs. By introducing a partition in terms of "macrostates" (e.g. sets of "microstates"), the consequence on…
The thermalization of an isolated quantum system is described by quantum mechanics and thermodynamics, while these two subjects are still not fully consistent with each other. This leaves a less-explored region where both quantum and…
We propose a new approach concerning the introduction of time-irreversibility in statistical mechanics. It is based on a transition function defined in terms of path integral and verifying a time-irreversible equation. We show first how…
The mathematical physics of mechanical systems in thermal equilibrium is a well studied, and relatively easy, subject, because the Gibbs distribution is in general an adequate guess for the equilibrium state. On the other hand, the…
Understanding how statistical equilibrium can occur in out-of-equilibrium systems is of paramount interest, as it would enable the use of statistical mechanics tools to these systems. Here, we report the first experimental evidence of…
We study the abundance of a particle species in a thermalized plasma by introducing a quantum kinetic description based on the non-equilibrium effective action. A stochastic interpretation of quantum kinetics in terms of a Langevin equation…
A thermal analogue of the classical brachistochrone problem, which minimizes the connection time between two equilibrium states of harmonically confined Brownian particles, has recently been solved theoretically. Here we report its…
Our previous works have shown the statistical mechanics of self-gravitating system. In this paper, we will show its thermodynamics and compare our results with observations and simulations. We propose that our statistical mechanics can be…
The division by N! in the expression of statistical entropy is usually justified to students by the statement that classical particles should be counted as indistinguishable. Sometimes, quantum indistinguishability is invoked to explain it.…
We report a phase transition in the projected ensemble - the collection of post-measurement wavefunctions of a local subsystem obtained by measuring its complement. The transition emerges in systems undergoing random permutation dynamics, a…
Entropy in thermodynamics is an extensive quantity, whereas standard methods in statistical mechanics give rise to a non-extensive expression for the entropy. This discrepancy is often seen as a sign that basic formulas of statistical…
Eigenstate thermalization has played a prominent role as a determiner of the validity of quantum statistical mechanics since von Neumann's early works on quantum ergodicity. However, its connection to the dynamical process of quantum…
A set of core features is set forth as the essence of a thermodynamic description, which derive from large-deviation properties in systems with hierarchies of timescales, but which are \emph{not} dependent upon conservation laws or…
The nonextensive statistical ensembles are revisited for the complex systems with long-range interactions and long-range correlations. An approximation, the value of nonextensive parameter (1-q) is assumed to be very tiny, is adopted for…
Statistical mechanics has grown without bounds in space. Statistical mechanics of point particles in an unbounded perfect gas is commonly accepted as a foundation for understanding many systems, including liquids like the concentrated salt…
Describing open quantum systems far from equilibrium is challenging, in particular when the environment is mesoscopic, when it develops nonequilibrium features during the evolution, or when the memory effects cannot be disregarded. Here, we…
Strand displacement and tile assembly systems are designed to follow prescribed kinetic rules (i.e., exhibit a specific time-evolution). However, the expected behavior in the limit of infinite time--known as thermodynamic equilibrium--is…
Irreversible processes are frequently adopted to account for the entropy increase in classical thermodynamics. However, the corresponding physical origins are not always clear, e.g. in a free expansion process, a typical model in textbooks.…
It is shown that a paradigm of classical statistical mechanics --- the thermalization of a Brownian particle --- has a low-dimensional, deterministic analogue: when a heavy, slow system is coupled to fast deterministic chaos, the resultant…
The assumption that quantum systems relax to a stationary state in the long-time limit underpins statistical physics and much of our intuitive understanding of scientific phenomena. For isolated systems this follows from the eigenstate…