Related papers: Boltzmann's Approach to Statistical Mechanics
For a dynamical system far from equilibrium, one has to deal with empirical probabilities defined through time-averages, and the main problem is then how to formulate an appropriate statistical thermodynamics. The common answer is that the…
Statistical thermodynamics is valuable as a conceptual structure that shapes our thinking about equilibrium thermodynamic states. A cloud of unresolved questions surrounding the foundations of the theory could lead an impartial observer to…
Obtaining a rigorous justification of the kinetic theory of gases from Newton's second law of dynamics for a large number of identical spheres interacting by elastic binary collisions, is a problem formulated by Hilbert in 1900 (Hilbert's…
In stochastic thermodynamics, the entropy production of a thermodynamic system is defined by the irreversibility measured by the logarithm of the ratio of the path probabilities in the forward and reverse processes. We derive the relation…
To reconstruct thermodynamics based on the microscopic laws is one of the most important unfulfilled goals of statistical physics. Here, we show that the first law and the second law for adiabatic processes are derived from an assumption…
In attempting to derive irreversible macroscopic thermodynamics from reversible microscopic dynamics, Boltzmann inadvertently smuggled in a premise that assumed the very irreversibility he was trying to prove: 'molecular chaos.' The program…
The recent surge of interest in the origin of the temporal asymmetry of thermodynamical systems (including the accessible part of the universe itself) put forward two possible explanatory approaches to this age-old problem. Hereby we show…
The origins of thermodynamics from the microscopic properties of matter have not been satisfactorily accounted for. This work presents a formulation that connects Lagrangian mechanics to thermodynamics. By using such a formulation and…
Concepts of everyday use like energy, heat, and temperature have acquired a precise meaning after the development of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics provides the basis for understanding how heat and work are related and with the general…
We propose a new approach concerning the introduction of time-irreversibility in statistical mechanics. It is based on a transition function defined in terms of path integral and verifying a time-irreversible equation. We show first how…
Non-extensive systems do not allow to go to the thermodynamic limit. Therefore we have to reformulate statistical mechanics without invoking the thermodynamical limit. I.e. we have to go back to Pre-Gibbsian times. We show that Boltzmann's…
We consider the statistical irreversibility and its compatibility with the reversible dynamics. The role played by the observation is analyzed in detail. It makes our previous proof for the second law of thermodynamics clearer. On this…
Universal properties of the statistics of stochastic efficiency for mesoscopic time-reversal symmetry broken energy transducers are revealed in the Gaussian approximation. We also discuss how the second law of thermodynamics restricts the…
With the help of a general expression of the entropies in extensive and nonextensive systems, some important relations between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics are revealed through the views of thermodynamics and statistic physics.…
Time reversal symmetry is a fundamental property of many quantum mechanical systems. The relation between statistical physics and time reversal is subtle and not all statistical theories conserve this particular symmetry, most notably…
Quantum mechanics and classical statistical mechanics are two physical theories that share several analogies in their mathematical apparatus and physical foundations. In particular, classical statistical mechanics is hallmarked by the…
Introducing the Boltzmann distribution very early in a statistical thermodynamics course (in the spirit of Feynmann) has many didactic advantages, in particular that of easily deriving the Gibbs entropy formula. In this note, a short…
The aim of this article is to analyze the relation between the second law of thermodynamics and the so-called arrow of time. For this purpose, a number of different aspects in this arrow of time are distinguished, in particular those of…
Temperature is an outsider in the laws of motion given by Newton and Einstein and this oversight is the source of the predictions of time-reversal-invariance made by these two great systems of motion. By taking into consideration Planck's…
People are well aware that, inherently, certain small-scale nonchaotic particle movements are not governed by thermodynamics. Usually, such phenomena are studied by kinetic theory and their energy properties are considered "trivial". In…