相关论文: Reconceptualising equilibrium in Boltzmannian stat…
Boltzmannian statistical mechanics partitions the phase space of a system into macro-regions, and the largest of these is identified with equilibrium. What justifies this identification? Common answers focus on Boltzmann's combinatorial…
Equilibrium is a central concept of statistical mechanics. In previous work we introduced the notions of a Boltzmannian alpha-epsilon-equilibrium and a Boltzmannian gamma-varepsilon-equilibrium (Werndl and Frigg 2015a, 2015b). This was done…
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…
There are three levels of description in classical statistical mechanics, the microscopic/dynamic, the macroscopic/statistical and the thermodynamic. At one end there is a well-used concept of equilibrium in thermodynamics and at the other…
Boltzmann provided a scenario to explain why individual macroscopic systems composed of a large number $N$ of microscopic constituents are inevitably (i.e., with overwhelming probability) observed to approach a unique macroscopic state of…
As the quantification of metabolism, nonequilibrium steady states play a central role in living matter, but are beyond the purview of equilibrium statistical mechanics. Here we develop a fermionic theory of nonequilibrium steady states in…
We examine the question of whether the formal expressions of equilibrium statistical mechanics can be applied to time independent non-dissipative systems that are not in true thermodynamic equilibrium and are nonergodic. By assuming the…
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…
Equilibrium statistical mechanics provides powerful tools to understand physics at the macroscale. Yet, the question remains how this can be justified based on a microscopic quantum description. Here, we extend the ideas of pure state…
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…
This paper reviews various applications of the theory of smooth dynamical systems to conceptual problems of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. We adopt a new point of view which has emerged progressively in recent years, and which takes…
The Boltzmann and Gibbs approaches to statistical mechanics have very different definitions of equilibrium and entropy. The problems associated with this are discussed and it is suggested that they can be resolved, to produce a version of…
This paper analyzes the ergodic hypothesis in the context of Boltzmann's late work in statistical mechanics, where Boltzmann lays the foundations for what is today known as the typicality account. I argue that, based on the concepts of…
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…
Economic systems are similar with physic systems for their large number of individuals and the exist of equilibrium. In this paper, we present a model applying the equilibrium statistical model in economic systems. Consistent with…
I present an unbiased method of mapping particles to distribution functions and vice versa. This method alone defines the canonical formulation of statistical mechanics, since it can be used to derive the principle of maximum entropy in…
In statistical mechanics, measuring the number of available states and their probabilities, and thus the system's entropy, enables the prediction of the macroscopic properties of a physical system at equilibrium. This predictive capacity…
In this paper we address the problem to give a concrete support to the idea, originally stemming from Niels Bohr, that quantum mechanics must be rooted inside the physics of macroscopic systems. It is shown that, starting from the formalism…
We investigate the equilibration of an isolated macroscopic quantum system in the sense that deviations from a steady state become unmeasurably small for the overwhelming majority of times within any sufficiently large time interval. The…
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…