Related papers: Planck's Legacy to Statistical Mechanics
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…
Mathematical aspects of the theory of interfaces in statistical mechanics are discussed.
J. Willard Gibbs' Elementary Principles in Statistical Mechanics was the definitive work of one of America's greatest physicists. Gibbs' book on statistical mechanics establishes the basic principles and fundamental results that have…
The influence of Alfred Tarski on computer science was indirect but significant in a number of directions and was in certain respects fundamental. Here surveyed is the work of Tarski on the decision procedure for algebra and geometry, the…
The Planck constant ($\hbar$) plays a pivotal role in quantum physics. Historically, it has been proposed as postulate, part of a genius empirical relationship $E=\hbar \omega$ in order to explain the intensity spectrum of the blackbody…
We review here the main contributions of Einstein to the quantum theory. To put them in perspective we first give an account of Physics as it was before him. It is followed by a brief account of the problem of black body radiation which…
An unified thermodynamical framework based in the use of a generalized Massieu-Planck thermodynamic potential is proposed and a new formulation of Boltzmann-Gibbs Statistical Mechanics is established. Under this philosophy a generalization…
Planck's law describes the radiation of black bodies. The study of its properties is of special interest, as black bodies are a good description for the behavior of many phenomena. In this work a new mathematical study of Planck's law is…
Within the continuous endeavour of improving the efficiency and resilience of air transport, the trend of using concepts and metrics from statistical physics has recently gained momentum. This scientific discipline, which integrates…
A deep and detailed historiographical analysis of a particular case study concerning the so-called Lee-Yang theorem of theoretical statistical mechanics of phase transitions, has emphasized what real historical roots underlie such a case…
Theory of Probability is distinguished by several high-level philosophical attitudes, some stressed by Jeffreys, some implicit. By reviewing these we may recognize the importance in this work in the historical development of statistics.…
In this lecture we shall summarize the scientific legacy of LEP, in particular in connection with the Standard Model of Particle Physics; we shall also discuss some historical and sociological aspects of the experimentation at LEP.
This book examines a number of problems of quantum mechanics, most of which are not usually discussed. What is the origin of probabilities in the mechanics of the microworld? What is the nature of Planck's constant h? What is the nature of…
We introduce the special issue on the Statistical Mechanics of Climate published on the Journal of Statistical Physics by presenting an informal discussion of some theoretical aspects of climate dynamics that make it a topic of great…
This colloquium summarizes Dirac's contributions to the discovery of quantum mechanics before he invented his relativistic wave equation.
We show that, in spite of a rather common opinion, quantum mechanics can be represented as an approximation of classical statistical mechanics. The approximation under consideration is based on the ordinary Taylor expansion of physical…
This paper gives a short review of the history of statistical physics starting from D. Bernoulli's kinetic theory of gases in the 18th century until the recent new developments in nonequilibrium kinetic theory in the last decades of this…
Many studies investigated the application of statistical mechanics to damage phenomena. However, so far the association of damage with statistical mechanics is far from completely developed. One of the most successful approaches maps the…
We study the classical statistical mechanics of a phase-space curve. This unveils a mechanism that, via the associated entropic force, provides us with a simple realization of effects such as confinement, hard core, and asymptotic freedom.…
This talk describes how techniques developed by Computer Scientists have helped our understanding of certain problems in statistical physics which involve randomness and ``frustration''. Examples will be given from two problems that have…