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The connection between the non-equilibrium dynamics of isolated quantum many-body systems and statistical mechanics is a fundamental open question. It is generally believed that the unitary quantum evolution of a sufficiently complex system…
The approach to thermal equilibrium, or thermalization, in isolated quantum systems is among the most fundamental problems in statistical physics. Recent theoretical studies have revealed that thermalization in isolated quantum systems has…
A new formulation of statistical mechanics is put forward according to which a random variable characterizing a macroscopic body is postulated to be infinitely divisible. It leads to a parametric representation of partition function of an…
The use of statistical methods to model gravitational systems is crucial to physics practice, but the extent to which thermodynamics and statistical mechanics genuinely apply to these systems is a contentious issue. This paper provides new…
Non-relativistic quantum theory is derived from information codified into an appropriate statistical model. The basic assumption is that there is an irreducible uncertainty in the location of particles: positions constitute a configuration…
Physical devices operating out of equilibrium are inherently affected by thermal fluctuations, limiting their operational precision. This issue is pronounced at microscopic and especially quantum scales and can only be mitigated by…
Stochastic thermodynamics extends the notions and relations of classical thermodynamics to small systems that experience strong fluctuations. The definitions of work and heat and the microscopically reversible condition are two key concepts…
Quantum systems of indistinguishable particles are commonly described using the formalism of second quantisation, which relies on the assumption that any admissible quantum state must be either symmetric or anti-symmetric under particle…
To describe the nonequilibrium states of a system we introduce a new thermodynamic parameter - the lifetime (the first passage time) of a system. The statistical distributions that can be obtained out of the mesoscopic description…
The dynamics of quantum entanglement plays a central role in explaining the emergence of thermal equilibrium in isolated many-body systems. However, entanglement is notoriously hard to measure. Recent works have introduced a notion of…
Ordered chains (such as chains of amino acids) are ubiquitous in biological cells, and these chains perform specific functions contingent on the sequence of their components. Using the existence and general properties of such sequences as a…
Comparison of the thermodynamic entropy with Boltzmann's principle shows that under conditions of constant volume the total number of arrangements in simple thermodynamic systems with temperature-independent heat capacities is TC/k. A…
We use the work done on and the heat removed from a system to maintain it in a nonequilibrium steady state for a thermodynamic-like description of such a system as well as of its fluctuations. Based on a generalized Onsager-Machlup theory…
We investigate the relation between various statistical ensembles of finite systems. If ensembles differ at the level of fluctuations of the order parameter, we show that the equations of states can present major differences. A sufficient…
We assume that markovian dynamics on a finite graph enjoys a gauge symmetry under local scalings of the probability density, derive the transformation law for the transition rates and interpret the thermodynamic force as a gauge potential.…
Dynamical equations describing physical systems at statistical equilibrium are commonly extended by mathematical tools called "thermostats". These tools are designed for sampling ensembles of statistical mechanics. We propose a dynamic…
Quantum theory depends on an external classical time, and there ought to exist an equivalent reformulation of the theory which does not depend on such a time. The demand for the existence of such a reformulation suggests that quantum theory…
The limit of small entropy production is reached in relaxing systems long after preparation, and in stationary driven systems in the limit of small driving power. Surprisingly, for extended systems this limit is not in general the…
When a non-integrable system evolves out of equilibrium for a long time, local observables are expected to attain stationary expectation values, independent of the details of the initial state. However, intriguing experimental results with…
This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the anatomy of both thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, together with the relationships between their constituent parts. Based on this analysis, using the renormalization group and…