Related papers: Squeezed ensemble for systems with first-order pha…
We study the dynamics of quantum statistical ensembles at first-order phase transition points of finite macroscopic systems. First, we show that at the first-order phase transition point of systems with an order parameter that does not…
Maximum-entropy ensembles are key primitives in statistical mechanics from which thermodynamic properties can be derived. Over the decades, several approaches have been put forward in order to justify from minimal assumptions the use of…
For studying the thermodynamic properties of systems using statistical mechanics we propose an ensemble that lies in between the familiar canonical and microcanonical ensembles. From a comparative study of these ensembles we conclude that…
The unconstrained ensemble describes completely open systems in which energy, volume and number of particles fluctuate. Here we show that not only equilibrium states can exist in this ensemble, but also that completely open systems can…
Preparing thermal equilibrium states is an essential task for finite-temperature quantum simulations. In statistical mechanics, microstates in thermal equilibrium can be obtained from statistical ensembles. To date, numerous ensembles have…
Investigation on foundational aspects of quantum statistical mechanics recently entered a renaissance period due to novel intuitions from quantum information theory and to increasing attention on the dynamical aspects of single quantum…
In bulk systems the calculation of the main thermodynamic quantities leads to the same expectation values in the thermodynamic limit, regardless of the choice of the statistical ensemble. Single linear molecules can be still regarded as…
(abridged) In this paper, we present the issues we consider as essential as far as the statistical mechanics of finite systems is concerned. In particular, we emphasis our present understanding of phase transitions in the framework of…
Due to the equivalence of the statistical ensembles thermostatic properties of physical systems with short-range interactions can be calculated in different ensembles leading to the same physics. In particular, the ensemble equivalence…
An estimator for the dynamical temperature in an arbitrary ensemble is derived in the framework of Bayesian statistical mechanics and the maximum entropy principle. We test this estimator numerically by a simulation of the two-dimensional…
We present a detailed account of a first-order localization transition in the Discrete Nonlinear Schr\"odinger Equation, where the localized phase is associated to the high energy region in parameter space. We show that, due to ensemble…
By combining different ideas, a general and efficient protocol to deal with discontinuous phase transitions at low temperatures is proposed. For small $T$'s, it is possible to derive a generic analytic expression for appropriate order…
We propose a definition of microcanonical and canonical statistical ensembles based on the concept of density of states. This definition applies both to the classical and the quantum case. For the microcanonical case this allows for a…
At the core of equilibrium statistical mechanics lies the notion of statistical ensembles: a collection of microstates, each occurring with a given a priori probability that depends only on a few macroscopic parameters such as temperature,…
We present general and rigorous results showing that the microcanonical and canonical ensembles are equivalent at all three levels of description considered in statistical mechanics - namely, thermodynamics, equilibrium macrostates, and…
A phase coexistence state cannot be specified uniquely by any intensive parameters, such as the temperature and the magnetic field, because they take the same values over all coexisting phases. It can be specified uniquely only by an…
The theory of small-system thermodynamics was originally developed to extend the laws of thermodynamics to length scales of nanometers. Here we review this "nanothermodynamics," and stress how it also applies to large systems that subdivide…
Focusing on isolated macroscopic systems, described either in terms of a quantum mechanical or a classical model, our two key questions are: In how far does an initial ensemble (usually far from equilibrium and largely unknown in detail)…
Squeezed state in harmonic systems can be generated through a variety of techniques, including varying the oscillator frequency or using nonlinear two-photon Raman interaction. We focus on these two techniques to drive an initial thermal…
Relaxation dynamics of complex quantum systems with strong interactions towards the steady state is a fundamental problem in statistical mechanics. The steady state of subsystems weakly interacting with their environment is described by the…