arXiv subjects

Alessandro Bravetti

Publications and source records attributed to Alessandro Bravetti.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Ergodicity of one-dimensional systems coupled to the logistic thermostat

We analyze the ergodicity of three one-dimensional Hamiltonian systems, with harmonic, quartic and Mexican-hat potentials, coupled to the logistic thermostat. As criteria for ergodicity we employ: the independence of the Lyapunov spectrum with respect to initial conditions; the absence of visual "holes" in two-dimensional Poincaré sections; the agreement between the histograms in each variable and the theoretical marginal distributions; and the convergence of the global joint distribution to the theoretical one, as measured by the Hellinger distance. Taking a large number of random initial conditions, for certain parameter values of the thermostat we find no indication of regular trajectories and show that the time distribution converges to the ensemble one for an arbitrarily long trajectory for all the systems considered. Our results thus provide a robust numerical indication that the logistic thermostat can serve as a single one-parameter thermostat for stiff one-dimensional systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Contact Hamiltonian Mechanics

In this work we introduce contact Hamiltonian mechanics, an extension of symplectic Hamiltonian mechanics, and show that it is a natural candidate for a geometric description of non-dissipative and dissipative systems. For this purpose we review in detail the major features of standard symplectic Hamiltonian dynamics and show that all of them can be generalized to the contact case.

math-ph↗

arXiv2016

Exact Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula for the contact Heisenberg algebra

In this work we introduce the contact Heisenberg algebra which is the restriction of the Jacobi algebra on contact manifolds to the linear and constant functions. We give the exact expression of its corresponding Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula. We argue that this result is relevant to the quantization of contact systems.

math-ph↗

arXiv2016

Geometric integrator for simulations in the canonical ensemble

In this work we introduce a geometric integrator for molecular dynamics simulations of physical systems in the canonical ensemble. In particular, we consider the equations arising from the so-called density dynamics algorithm with any possible type of thermostat and provide an integrator that preserves the invariant distribution. Our integrator thus constitutes a unified framework that allows the study and comparison of different thermostats and of their influence on the equilibrium and non-equilibrium (thermo-)dynamic properties of the system. To show the validity and the generality of the integrator, we implement it with a second-order, time-reversible method and apply it to the simulation of a Lennard-Jones system with three different thermostats, obtaining good conservation of the geometrical properties and recovering the expected thermodynamic results.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2015

Thermodynamic optimization of a Penrose process: an engineers' approach to black hole thermodynamics

In this work we present a new view on the thermodynamics of black holes introducing effects of irreversibility by employing thermodynamic optimization and finite-time thermodynamics. These questions are of importance both in physics and in engineering, combining standard thermodynamics with optimal control theory in order to find optimal protocols and bounds for realistic processes without assuming anything about the microphysics involved. We find general bounds on the maximum work and the efficiency of thermodynamic processes involving black holes that can be derived exclusively from the knowledge of thermodynamic relations at equilibrium. Since these new bounds consider the finite duration of the processes, they are more realistic and stringent than their reversible counterparts. To illustrate our arguments, we consider in detail the thermodynamic optimization of a Penrose process, i.e. the problem of finding the least dissipative process extracting all the angular momentum from a Kerr black hole in finite time. We discuss the relevance of our results for real astrophysical phenomena, for the comparison with laboratory black holes analogues and for other theoretical aspects of black hole thermodynamics.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2015

Liouville's Theorem and the canonical measure for nonconservative systems from contact geometry

Standard statistical mechanics of conservative systems relies on the symplectic geometry of the phase space. This is exploited to derive Hamilton's equations, Liouville's theorem and to find the canonical invariant measure. In this work we analyze the statistical mechanics of a class of nonconservative systems stemming from contact geometry. In particular, we find out the generalized Hamilton's equations, Liouville's theorem and the microcanonical and canonical measures invariant under the contact flow. Remarkably, the latter measure has a power law density distribution with respect to the standard contact volume form. Finally, we argue on the several possible applications of our results.

math-ph↗

arXiv2014

Precision cosmology with Padé rational approximations: theoretical predictions versus observational limits

We propose a novel approach for parameterizing the luminosity distance, based on the use of rational "Padé" approximations. This new technique extends standard Taylor treatments, overcoming possible convergence issues at high redshifts plaguing standard cosmography. Indeed, we show that Padé expansions enable us to confidently use data over a larger interval with respect to the usual Taylor series. To show this property in detail, we propose several Padé expansions and we compare these approximations with cosmic data, thus obtaining cosmographic bounds from the observable universe for all cases. In particular, we fit Padé luminosity distances with observational data from different uncorrelated surveys. We employ union 2.1 supernova data, baryonic acoustic oscillation, Hubble space telescope measurements and differential age data. In so doing, we also demonstrate that the use of Padé approximants can improve the analyses carried out by introducing cosmographic auxiliary variables, i.e. a standard technique usually employed in cosmography in order to overcome the divergence problem. Moreover, for any drawback related to standard cosmography, we emphasize possible resolutions in the framework of Padé approximants. In particular, we investigate how to reduce systematics, how to overcome the degeneracy between cosmological coefficients, how to treat divergences and so forth. As a result, we show that cosmic bounds are actually refined through the use of Padé treatments and the thus derived best values of the cosmographic parameters show slight departures from the standard cosmological paradigm. Although all our results are perfectly consistent with the $Λ$CDM model, evolving dark energy components different from a pure cosmological constant are not definitively ruled out.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Thermodynamic curvature and ensemble nonequivalence

In this work we consider thermodynamic geometries defined as Hessians of different potentials and derive some useful formulae that show their complementary role in the description of thermodynamic systems with two degrees of freedom that show ensemble nonequivalence. From the expressions derived for the metrics, we can obtain the curvature scalars in a very simple and compact form. We explain here the reason why each curvature scalar diverges over the line of divergence of one of the specific heats. This application is of special interest in the study of changes of stability in black holes as defined by Davies. From these results we are able to prove on a general footing a conjecture first formulated by Liu, Lü, Luo and Shao stating that different Hessian metrics can correspond to different behaviors in the various ensembles. We study the case of two thermodynamic dimensions. Moreover, comparing our result with the more standard turning point method developed by Poincaré, we obtain that the divergence of the scalar curvature of the Hessian metric of one potential exactly matches the change of stability in the corresponding ensemble.

math-ph↗

arXiv2013

Geometrothermodynamics of Myers-Perry black holes

We consider the thermodynamics and Geometrothermodynamics of the Myers-Perry black holes in five dimensions for three different cases, depending on the values of the angular momenta. We follow Davies approach to study the thermodynamics of black holes and find a non-trivial thermodynamic structure in all cases, which is fully reproduced by the analysis performed with the techniques of Geometrothermodynamics. Moreover, we observe that in the cases when only one angular momentum is present or the two angular momenta are fixed to be equal, i.e. when the thermodynamic system is two dimensional, there is a complete agreement between the divergences of the generalized susceptibilities and the singularities of the equilibrium manifold, whereas when the two angular momenta are fully independent, that is, when the thermodynamic system is three dimensional, additional singularities in the curvature appear. However, we prove that such singularities are due to the changing from a stable phase to an unstable one.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Dark energy from Geometrothermodynamics

Geometrothermodynamics is a geometric theory which combines thermodynamics with contact and Riemannian geometry. In this work we use the formalism of geometrothermodynamics to infer cosmological models which predict the observed speed up. As a relevant consequence, our simple model shows dynamical properties which seem to fairly well describe the late time universe dynamics. To do so, we use geometric considerations about constant thermodynamic curvature and derive the model of a fluid which is expected to \emph{naturally} reproduce the dark energy effects. In particular, our approach reduces to the $Λ$CDM model in the limiting case of small redshift, providing however significative departures from $Λ$CDM as the universe expands. The main goal consists in interpreting our \emph{geometrothermodynamic fluid} as an energetic source and to explain the dark energy effects as emerging from the interplay between geometry and thermodynamics, providing a new interpretation of the observed positive acceleration.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Geometrothermodynamics of higher dimensional black holes

We study the thermodynamics and geometrothermodynamics of different black hole configurations in more than four spacetime dimensions. We find the conditions under which second order phase transitions occur in higher-dimensional static Reissner-Nordström and stationary Kerr black holes. Our results indicate that the equilibrium manifold of all these black hole configurations is in general curved and that curvature singularities appear exactly at those places where second order phase transitions occur.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

The conformal metric structure of Geometrothermodynamics

We present a thorough analysis on the invariance of the most widely used metrics in the Geometrothermodynamics (GTD) programme. We centre our attention in the invariance of the curvature of the space of equilibrium states under a change of fundamental representation. Assuming that the systems under consideration can be described by a fundamental relation which is a homogeneous function of a definite order, we demonstrate that such invariance is only compatible with total Legendre transformations in the present form of the programme. We give the explicit form of a metric which is invariant under total Legendre transformations and whose induced metric produces a curvature which is independent of the fundamental representation. Finally, we study a generic system with two degrees of freedom and whose fundamental relation is homogeneous of order one.

math-ph↗

arXiv2013

Cosmographic reconstruction of $f(\mathcal{T})$ cosmology

A cosmographic reconstruction of $f(\mathcal T)$ models is here revised in a model independent way by fixing observational bounds on the most relevant terms of the $f(\mathcal T)$ Taylor expansion. We relate the $f(\mathcal T)$ models and their derivatives to the cosmographic parameters and then adopt a Monte Carlo analysis. The experimental bounds are thus independent of the choice of a particular $f(\mathcal T)$ model. The advantage of such an analysis lies on constraining the dynamics of the universe by reconstructing the form of $f(\mathcal T)$, without any further assumptions apart from the validity of the cosmological principle and the analyticity of the $f(\mathcal T)$ function. The main result is to fix model independent cosmographic constraints on the functional form of $f(\mathcal T)$ which are compatible with the theoretical predictions. Furthermore, we infer a phenomenological expression for $f(\mathcal T)$, compatible with the current cosmographic bounds and show that small deviations are expected from a constant $f(\mathcal T)$ term, indicating that the equation of state of dark energy could slightly evolve from the one of the $Λ$CDM model.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Updated constraints on $f(\mathcal{R})$ gravity from cosmography

We address the issue of constraining the class of $f(\mathcal{R})$ able to reproduce the observed cosmological acceleration, by using the so called cosmography of the universe. We consider a model independent procedure to build up a $f(z)$-series in terms of the measurable cosmographic coefficients; we therefore derive cosmological late time bounds on $f(z)$ and its derivatives up to the fourth order, by fitting the luminosity distance directly in terms of such coefficients. We perform a Monte Carlo analysis, by using three different statistical sets of cosmographic coefficients, in which the only assumptions are the validity of the cosmological principle and that the class of $f(\mathcal{R})$ reduces to $Λ$CDM when $z\ll1$. We use the updated union 2.1 for supernovae Ia, the constrain on the $H_0$ value imposed by the measurements of the Hubble space telescope and the Hubble dataset, with measures of $H$ at different $z$. We find a statistical good agreement of the $f(\mathcal{R})$ class under exam, with the cosmological data; we thus propose a candidate of $f(\mathcal{R})$, which is able to pass our cosmological test, reproducing the late time acceleration in agreement with observations.

gr-qc↗