Related papers: Boltzmann and Gibbs: An Attempted Reconciliation
When dealing with certain kind of complex phenomena the theoretician may face some difficulties -- typically a failure to have access to information for properly characterize the system -- for applying the full power of the standard…
We present general and rigorous results showing that the microcanonical and canonical ensembles are equivalent at all three levels of description considered in statistical mechanics - namely, thermodynamics, equilibrium macrostates, and…
Recently a number of approaches has been developed to connect the microscopic dynamics of particle systems to the macroscopic properties of systems in nonequilibrium stationary states, via the theory of dynamical systems. This way a direct…
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…
Gibbs measures are the main object of study in equilibrium statistical mechanics, and are used in many other contexts, including dynamical systems and ergodic theory, and spatial statistics. However, in a large number of natural instances…
Regardless of studies and debates over a century, the statistical origin of the second law of thermodynamics still remains illusive. One essential obstacle is the lack of a proper theoretical formalism for non-equilibrium entropy. Here I…
After a brief review of the present status of nonextensive statistical mechanics, we present a conjectural scenario where mixing (characterized by the entropic index $q_{mix} \le 1$) and equilibration (characterized by the entropic index…
In this paper I propose a new way for counting the microstates of a system out of equilibrium. As, according to quantum mechanics, things happen as if a given particle can be found in more than one state at once, I extend this concept to…
The concept of classical indistinguishability is analyzed and defended against a number of well-known criticisms, with particular attention to the Gibbs' paradox. Granted that it is as much at home in classical as in quantum statistical…
The two-body potential of systems with long-range interactions decays at large distances as $V(r)\sim 1/r^\alpha$, with $\alpha\leq d$, where $d$ is the space dimension. Examples are: gravitational systems, two-dimensional hydrodynamics,…
The received wisdom in statistical mechanics is that isolated systems, when left to themselves, approach equilibrium. But under what circumstances does an equilibrium state exist and an approach to equilibrium take place? In this paper we…
We demonstrate the equilibration of isolated macroscopic quantum systems, prepared in non-equilibrium mixed states with significant population of many energy levels, and observed by instruments with a reasonably bound working range compared…
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…
The domain of validity of standard thermodynamics and Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics is discussed and then formally enlarged in order to hopefully cover a variety of anomalous systems. The generalization concerns {\it nonextensive}…
We develop a generalized theory of (meta)equilibrium statistical mechanics in the thermodynamic limit valid for both smooth and fractal phase spaces. In the former case, our approach leads naturally to Boltzmann-Gibbs standard…
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…
We develop a thermodynamic framework for modeling innovation adoption and abandonment dynamics using statistical mechanics. Starting from a mathematical model for an adoption distribution that fits empirically obtained date, we construct a…
A fundamental challenge is to understand nonequilibrium statistical mechanics starting from microscopic chaos in the equations of motion of a many-particle system. In this review we summarize recent theoretical advances along these lines.…
Competing styles of Statistical Mechanics have been introduced as practical succedaneous to the conventional well established Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics, when in the use of the latter the researcher is impaired in his/her…
The Renyi statistics in the canonical and microcanonical ensembles is examined in the general case and in particular for the ideal gas. In the microcanonical ensemble the Renyi statistics is equivalent with the Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics.…