Related papers: Second Law of Thermodynamics and Macroscopic Obser…
Boltzmann's principle S=k ln W allows to extend equilibrium thermo-statistics to ``Small'' systems without invoking the thermodynamic limit. The clue is to base statistical probability on ensemble averaging and not on time averaging. It is…
A geometric foundation thermo-statistics is presented with the only axiomatic assumption of Boltzmann's principle S(E,N,V)=k\ln W. This relates the entropy to the geometric area e^{S(E,N,V)/k} of the manifold of constant energy in the…
Boltzmann's principle S(E,N,V)=k\ln W relates the entropy to the geometric area e^{S(E,N,V)} of the manifold of constant energy in the N-body phase space. From the principle all thermodynamics and especially all phenomena of phase…
Boltzmann's principle S(E,N,V)=k*ln W(E,N,V) relates the entropy to the geometric area e^{S(E,N,V)} of the manifold of constant energy in the N-body phase space. From the principle all thermodynamics and especially all phenomena of phase…
In textbooks on statistical mechanics, one finds often arguments based on classical mechanics, phase space and ergodicity in order to justify the second law of thermodynamics. However, the basic equations of motion of classical mechanics…
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,…
Boltzmann's principle S(E,N,V...)=ln W(E,N,V...) allows the interpretation of Statistical Mechanics of a closed system as Pseudo-Riemannian geometry in the space of the conserved parameters E,N,V... (the conserved mechanical parameters in…
Ludwig Boltzmann had a hunch that irreversibility exhibited by a macroscopic system arises from the reversible dynamics of its microscopic constituents. He derived a nonlinear integro-differential equation - now called the Boltzmann…
Boltzmann's principle is used to select the "most probable" realization (macrostate) of an isolated or closed thermodynamic system, containing a small number of particles ($N \llsp \infty$), for both classical and quantum statistics. The…
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,…
The limits of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which reigns undisputed in the macroscopic world, are investigated at the mesoscopic level, corresponding to spatial dimensions of a few microns. An extremely simple isolated system, modeled…
A heuristic generalization of the Boltzmann-Gibbs microcanonical entropy is proposed, able to describe meta-equilibrium features and evolution of macroscopic systems. Despite its simple-minded derivation, such a function of "collective…
Recent research on the fundamentals of statistical mechanics has led to an interesting discovery [1-3]: With locally nonchaotic barriers, as Boltzmann's H-theorem is inapplicable, there exist nontrivial non-thermodynamic systems that can…
Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble, whereas canonical ones fail in the most interesting, mostly inhomogeneous, situations like phase separations or away from the thermodynamic…
Thermodynamics allows the application of Statistical Mechanics to finite and even small systems. As surface effects cannot be scaled away, one has to be careful with the standard arguments of splitting a system into two or bringing two…
Statistical mechanics descriptions of the second law of thermodynamics generally imply point-like particles driven by a dissipative overall mechanism for their simultaneous time-evolution. As the number of involved particles grows larger,…
Unlike most other laws of nature, the second law of thermodynamics is of a statistical nature, according to Boltzmann, meaning that its reliability arises from the vast number of particles present in macroscopic systems. This means that…
Boltzmann's Principle S = k ln W was repeatedly criticized by Einstein since it lacked a proper dynamical foundation in view of the thermal motion of the particles, out of which a physical system consists. This suggests, in particular, that…
It exists a large class of systems for which the traditional notion of extensivity breaks down. From experimental examples we induce two general hypothesis concerning such systems. In the first the existence of an internal coordinate system…
In the scientific and engineering literature, the second law of thermodynamics is expressed in terms of the behavior of entropy in reversible and irreversible processes. According to the prevailing statistical mechanics interpretation the…