Related papers: Statistical mechanics of a nonequilibrium steady-s…
In a first part the scope of classical thermodynamics and statistical mechanics is discussed in the broader context of formal dynamical systems, including computer programmes. In this context classical thermodynamics appears as a particular…
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)…
Statistical physics provides a useful perspective for the analysis of many complex systems; it allows us to relate microscopic fluctuations to macroscopic observations. Developmental biology, but also cell biology more generally, are…
A critical examination of some basic conceptual issues in classical statistical mechanics is attempted, with a view to understanding the origins, structure and statuts of that discipline. Due attention is given to the interplay between…
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…
The theoretical cornerstone of statistical mechanics is the ergodic assumption that all accessible configurations of a physical system are equally likely. Here we show how such property arises when an open quantum system is continuously…
This article sets up a formalism to describe stochastic thermodynamics for driven out-of-equilibrium open quantum systems. A stochastic Schr\"odinger equation allows to construct quantum trajectories describing the dynamics of the system…
We propose a generalization of stochastic thermodynamics to systems of active particles, which move under the combined influence of stochastic internal self-propulsions (activity) and a heat bath. The main idea is to consider joint…
A thermodynamically consistent particle-based model for fluid dynamics with continuous velocities and a non-ideal equation of state is presented. Excluded volume interactions are modeled by means of biased stochastic multiparticle…
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.…
An ensemble of classical subsystems interacting with surrounding particles has been considered. In general case, a phase volume of the subsystems ensemble was shown to be a function of time. The evolutional equations of the ensemble are…
A simplified thermodynamic approach of the incompressible 2D Euler equation is considered based on the conservation of energy, circulation and microscopic enstrophy. Statistical equilibrium states are obtained by maximizing the…
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…
We analyze the dynamics of a simple but nontrivial classical Hamiltonian system of infinitely many coupled rotators. We assume that this infinite system is driven out of thermal equilibrium either because energy is injected by an external…
Quantum mechanics postulates the existence of states determined by a particle position at a single time. This very concept, in conjunction with superposition, induces much of the quantum-mechanical structure. In particular, it implies the…
Ergodicity, this is to say, dynamics whose time averages coincide with ensemble averages, naturally leads to Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) statistical mechanics, hence to standard thermodynamics. This formalism has been at the basis of an enormous…
We examine the fundamental aspects of statistical mechanics, dividing the problem into a discussion purely about probability, which we analyse from a Bayesian standpoint. We argue that the existence of a unique maximising probability…
In the classical stochastic resetting problem, a particle, moving according to some stochastic dynamics, undergoes random interruptions that bring it to a selected domain, and then, the process recommences. Hitherto, the resetting mechanism…
As the title says we want to answer the question; how and why does statistical mechanics work? As we know from the most used prescription of Gibbs we calculate the phase space averages of dynamical quantities and we find that these phase…
When modelling driven steady states of matter, it is common practice either to choose transition rates arbitrarily, or to assume that the principle of detailed balance remains valid away from equilibrium. Neither of those practices is…