Related papers: Statistical mechanical foundations of power-law di…
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…
The present paper proposes a Statistical Mechanics approach to the inherent states of glassy systems and granular materials, following the original ideas developed by Edwards for granular materials. Two lattice models, a diluted Spin Glass…
The Boltzmann-Gibbs celebrated entropy $S_{BG}=-k\sum_ip_i \ln p_i$ is {\it concave} (with regard to all probability distributions $\{p_i\}$) and {\it stable} (under arbitrarily small deformations of any given probability distribution). It…
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…
Probability distributions having power-law tails are observed in a broad range of social, economic, and biological systems. We describe here a potentially useful common framework. We derive distribution functions $\{p_k\}$ for situations in…
In ordinary statistical mechanics the Boltzmann-Shannon entropy is related to the Maxwell-Bolzmann distribution $p_i$ by means of a twofold link. The first link is differential and is offered by the Jaynes Maximum Entropy Principle. The…
Certain fluctuations in particle number at fixed total energy lead exactly to a cut-power law distribution in the one-particle energy, via the induced fluctuations in the phase-space volume ratio. The temperature parameter is expressed…
A variety of astronomical phenomena appear to not satisfy the ergodic hypothesis in the relevant stationary state, if any. As such, there is no reason for expecting the applicability of Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) statistical mechanics. Some of…
The theory of large deviations constitutes a mathematical cornerstone in the foundations of Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics, based on the additive entropy $S_{BG}=- k_B\sum_{i=1}^W p_i \ln p_i$. Its optimization under appropriate…
Statistical properties of coupled dynamic-stochastic systems are studied within a combination of the maximum information principle and the superstatistical approach. The conditions at which the Shannon entropy functional leads to a…
Equilibrium statistical mechanics is intended to link the microscopic dynamics of particles to the thermodynamic laws for macroscopic quantities. However, the modern statistical theory is faced with significant difficulties, as applied to…
The long-standing puzzle surrounding the statistical mechanics of self-gravitating systems has not yet been solved successfully. We formulate a systematic theoretical framework of entropy-based statistical mechanics for spherically…
Systems with a long-term stationary state that possess as a spatio-temporally fluctuation quantity $\beta$ can be described by a superposition of several statistics, a "super statistics". We consider first, the Gamma, log-normal and…
Statistical physics aims to describe properties of macroscale systems in terms of distributions of their microscale agents. Its central tool is the maximization of entropy, a variational principle. We review the history of this principle,…
Boltzmann introduced in the 1870's a logarithmic measure for the connection between the thermodynamical entropy and the probabilities of the microscopic configurations of the system. His entropic functional for classical systems was…
In a macroscopic (quantum or classical) Hamiltonian system, we prove the second law of thermodynamics in the forms of the minimum work principle and the law of entropy increase, under the assumption that the initial state is described by a…
The basic aspects of both Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) and nonextensive statistical mechanics can be seen through three different stages. First, the proposal of an entropic functional ($S_{BG} =-k\sum_i p_i \ln p_i$ for the BG formalism) with the…
The issue of the thermodynamics of a system of distinguishable particles is discussed in this paper. In constructing the statistical mechanics of distinguishable particles from the definition of Boltzmann entropy, it is found that the…
It is by now well known that the Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) entropy $S_{BG}=-k\sum_{i=1}^W p_i \ln p_i$ can be usefully generalized into the entropy $S_q=k (1-\sum_{i=1}^Wp_i^{q}) / (q-1)$ ($q\in \mathcal{R}; S_1=S_{BG}$). Microscopic dynamics…
It is shown that power law phase space distributions describe marginally stable Gibbsian equilibria far from thermal equilibrium which are expected to occur in collisionless plasmas containing fully developed quasi-stationary turbulence.…