Related papers: Rethinking Boltzmannian Equilibrium
In Boltzmannian statistical mechanics macro-states supervene on micro-states. This leads to a partitioning of the state space of a system into regions of macroscopically indistinguishable micro-states. The largest of these regions is…
Equilibrium is a central concept of statistical mechanics. In previous work we introduced the notions of a Boltzmannian alpha-epsilon-equilibrium and a Boltzmannian gamma-varepsilon-equilibrium (Werndl and Frigg 2015a, 2015b). This was done…
The received wisdom in statistical mechanics is that isolated systems, when left to themselves, approach equilibrium. But under what circumstances does an equilibrium state exist and an approach to equilibrium take place? In this paper we…
I present an unbiased method of mapping particles to distribution functions and vice versa. This method alone defines the canonical formulation of statistical mechanics, since it can be used to derive the principle of maximum entropy in…
Boltzmann defined the entropy of a macroscopic system in a macrostate $M$ as the $\log$ of the volume of phase space (number of microstates) corresponding to $M$. This agrees with the thermodynamic entropy of Clausius when $M$ specifies the…
Equilibrium statistical mechanics provides powerful tools to understand physics at the macroscale. Yet, the question remains how this can be justified based on a microscopic quantum description. Here, we extend the ideas of pure state…
The Boltzmann and Gibbs approaches to statistical mechanics have very different definitions of equilibrium and entropy. The problems associated with this are discussed and it is suggested that they can be resolved, to produce a version of…
I give a highly selective overview of the way statistical mechanics explains the microscopic origins of the time asymmetric evolution of macroscopic systems towards equilibrium and of first order phase transitions in equilibrium. These…
Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble. Classically this is the manifold of all points in the N-body phase space with the given total energy. Due to Boltzmann-Planck's principle,…
This paper analyzes the ergodic hypothesis in the context of Boltzmann's late work in statistical mechanics, where Boltzmann lays the foundations for what is today known as the typicality account. I argue that, based on the concepts of…
Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble. Classically this is the manifold of all points in the N-body phase space with the given total energy. Due to Boltzmann's principle,…
We examine the question of whether the formal expressions of equilibrium statistical mechanics can be applied to time independent non-dissipative systems that are not in true thermodynamic equilibrium and are nonergodic. By assuming the…
The Boltzmann distribution (the most probable distribution) is one of the most important concepts used in physics, chemistry and biology. Suppose we put the system initially in one of the less probable state then the system will find the…
The paper examines and critiques the expression of entropy as the logarithm of the number of quantum states of a physical system. Boltzmann method of expressing entropy as the logarithm of the number of states of a gas with a given total…
The Boltzmann distribution predicts the collective behavior of systems at thermodynamic equilibrium as a function of their constituent parts. Yet most systems in nature are not at equilibrium, and a unified theory of their behavior does not…
There are three levels of description in classical statistical mechanics, the microscopic/dynamic, the macroscopic/statistical and the thermodynamic. At one end there is a well-used concept of equilibrium in thermodynamics and at the other…
A possible approach to description of the non equilibrium system has been proposed. Based on the Fokker-Plank equation in term of energy for non equilibrium distribution function of macroscopical system was obtained the stationary solution…
Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics is based on the entropy $S_{BG}=-k \sum_{i=1}^W p_i \ln p_i$. It enables a successful thermal approach of ubiquitous systems, such as those involving short-range interactions, markovian processes, and,…
Boltzmann provided a scenario to explain why individual macroscopic systems composed of a large number $N$ of microscopic constituents are inevitably (i.e., with overwhelming probability) observed to approach a unique macroscopic state of…
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Ludwig Boltzmann explained how irreversible macroscopic laws, in particular the second law of thermodynamics, originate in the time-reversible laws of microscopic physics. Boltzmann's analysis,…