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D. H. E. Gross

Publications and source records attributed to D. H. E. Gross.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

No dinosaurs in microcanonical gravitation: No special "microcanonical phase transitions"

It is shown that the recently introduced singularities of the microcanonical entropy like "microcanonical phase transitions", and exotic pattern of the microcanonical caloric curve T(E) like multi-valuednes or the appearance of "dinosaur's necks" are inconsistent with Boltzmann's fundamental definition of entropy S=ln[W(E)] for a system at equilibrium even for extremely large systems as astro-physical ones.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Heat can flow from cold to hot in Microcanonical Thermodynamics of finite systems and the microscopic origin of phase transitions

Thermodynamics allows the application of Statistical Mechanics to finite and even small systems. As surface effects cannot be scaled away, one has to be careful with the standard arguments of splitting a system into two or bringing two systems into thermal contact with energy or particle exchange: Not only the volume part of the entropy must be considered. The addition of any other macroscopic constraint like a dividing surface, or the enforcement of gradients of the energy/particle reduce the entropy. As will be shown here, when removing such constraint in regions of a negative heat capacity, the system may even relax under a flow of heat against the temperature slope. Thus Clausius formulation of the Second Law: "Heat always flows from hot to cold" can be violated. However, the Second Law is still satisfied and the total Boltzmann-entropy is rising. In the final chapter the general microscopic mechanism leading to the convexity of the microcanonical entropy at phase separation is discussed. This is explained for the liquid--gas and the solid--liquid transition.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

A New Thermodynamics, From Nuclei to Stars II

Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble. Classically this is the manifold of all points in the N-body phase space with the given total energy. Due to Boltzmann's principle, e^S=tr(δ(E-H)), its geometrical size is related to the entropy S(E,N,...). This definition does not invoke any information theory, no thermodynamic limit, no extensivity, and no homogeneity assumption, as are needed in conventional (canonical) thermo-statistics. Therefore, it describes the equilibrium statistics of extensive as well of non-extensive systems. Due to this fact it is the general and fundamental definition of any classical equilibrium statistics. It can address nuclei and astrophysical objects as well. As these are not described by the conventional extensive Boltzmann-Gibbs thermodynamics, this is a mayor achievement of statistical mechanics. Moreover, all kind of phase transitions can be distinguished sharply and uniquely for even small systems. In contrast to the Yang-Lee singularities in Boltzmann-Gibbs canonical thermodynamics phase-separations are well treated.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

A New Thermodynamics, From Nuclei to Stars

Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble. Classically this is the manifold of all points in the $N-$body phase space with the given total energy. Due to Boltzmann's principle, $e^S=tr(δ(E-H))$, its geometrical size is related to the entropy $S(E,N,...)$. This definition does not invoke any information theory, no thermodynamic limit, no extensivity, and no homogeneity assumption, as are needed in conventional (canonical) thermo-statistics. Therefore, it describes the equilibrium statistics of extensive as well of non-extensive systems. Due to this fact it is the {\em fundamental} definition of any classical equilibrium statistics. It can address nuclei and astrophysical objects as well. All kind of phase transitions can be distinguished sharply and uniquely for even small systems. For transitions in nuclear physics the scaling to an hypothetical uncharged nuclear matter with an $N/Z-$ ratio like realistic nuclei is not needed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

The Antonov problem for rotating systems

We study the classical Antonov problem (of retrieving the statistical equilibrium properties of a self-gravitating gas of classical particles obeying Boltzmann statistics in space and confined in a spherical box) for a rotating system. It is shown that a critical angular momentum $λ_c$ (or, in the canonical language, a critical angular velocity $ω_c$) exists, such that for $λ<λ_c$ the system's behaviour is qualitatively similar to that of a non-rotating gas, with a high energy disordered phase and a low energy collapsed phase ending with Antonov's limit, below which there is no equilibrium state. For $λ>λ_c$, instead, the low-energy phase is characterized by the formation of two dense clusters (a ``binary star''). Remarkably, no Antonov limit is found for $λ>λ_c$. The thermodynamics of the system (phase diagram, caloric curves, local stability) is analyzed and compared with the recently-obtained picture emerging from a different type of statistics which forbids particle overlapping.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Asymmetric binaries and hierarchy of states in self-gravitating systems

We complete the analysis of the equilibrium shapes of rotating self-gravitating gases initiated in Phys. Rev. Lett. 89 031101 (2002) (cond-mat/0202140) by studying the formation and thermodynamics of asymmetric binaries and by introducing a family of order parameters to classify the possible equilibrium states.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Comment on: ``Nonextensivity: from low-dimensional maps to Hamiltonian systems'' by Tsallis et al

The critique against using Boltzmann's microcanonical entropy, an "ensemble measure", as foundation of statistics is rebuffed. The confusion of the microcanonical distribution with the exponential Boltzmann-Gibbs (``BG'') distribution is pointed out. Boltzmann's principle is clearly superior over any Tsallis q-statistics in describing the equilibrium of small systems like nuclei and even self-gravitating systems as paradigm of non-extensive Hamiltonian systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

On the Microscopic Foundation of Thermo-Statistics

The most complicated phenomena of equilibrium statistics, phase separations and transitions of various order and critical phenomena, can clearly and sharply be seen even for small systems in the topology of the curvature of the microcanonical entropy $S_{B}(E,N)=\ln[W(E,N)]$ as function of the conserved energy, particle number etc.. Also the equilibrium of the largest possible interacting many-body systems like self-gravitating systems is described by the topology of the entropy surface $S_{B}(E,N,L)$ where $L$ is the angular momentum. Conventional (canonical) statistical mechanics describes phase transitions only in the ``thermodynamic limit''(homogeneous phases of ``infinite'' systems interacting with short-range interactions). In this paper I present two examples of phase transitions of first order: the liquid to gas transition in a small atomic cluster and the condensation of a rotating self-gravitating system into single stars or into multi-star systems like double stars and rings. Such systems cannot be addressed by ordinary canonical thermo-statistics. I also give a geometric illustration how an initially non-equilibrized ensemble approaches the microcanonical equilibrium distribution.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Second Law in Classical Non-Extensive Systems

Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble, whereas canonical ones fail in the most interesting, mostly inhomogeneous, situations like phase separations or away from the thermodynamic ``limit'' (e.g. self-gravitating systems and small quantum systems). A new derivation of the Second Law is presented that respects these fundamental complications. Our ``geometric foundation of Thermo-Statistics'' opens the fundamental (axiomatic) application of Thermo-Statistics to non-diluted systems or to ``non-simple'' systems which are not similar to (homogeneous) fluids. Supprisingly, but also understandably, a so far open problem c.f. Uffink: cond-mat/0005327, page 50 and page 72.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Comment on "Negative heat and first order phase transitions in nuclei" by Moretto et al

The recent paper nucl-th/0208024 by Moretto et al. is commented: Their picture of nuclear phase transition in terms of macroscopic control parameters, temperature and pressure, is irrelevant. Their criticism of order-disorder phase-transitions on a periodic lattice uses the wrong scenario. This transition has nothing to do with the liquid-gas transition of a single spherical droplet.

nucl-th↗

Thermodynamics of rotating self-gravitating systems

We investigate the statistical equilibrium properties of a system of classical particles interacting via Newtonian gravity, enclosed in a three-dimensional spherical volume. Within a mean-field approximation, we derive an equation for the density profiles maximizing the microcanonical entropy and solve it numerically. At low angular momenta, i.e. for a slowly rotating system, the well-known gravitational collapse ``transition'' is recovered. At higher angular momenta, instead, rotational symmetry can spontaneously break down giving rise to more complex equilibrium configurations, such as double-clusters (``double stars''). We analyze the thermodynamics of the system and the stability of the different equilibrium configurations against rotational symmetry breaking, and provide the global phase diagram.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Thermo-Statistics or Topology of the Microcanonical Entropy Surface

Boltzmann's principle S(E,N,V...)=ln W(E,N,V...) allows the interpretation of Statistical Mechanics of a closed system as Pseudo-Riemannian geometry in the space of the conserved parameters E,N,V... (the conserved mechanical parameters in the language of Ruppeiner) without invoking the thermodynamic limit. The topology is controlled by the curvature of S(E,N,V...). The most interesting region is the region of (wrong) positive maximum curvature, the region of phase-separation. This is demonstrated among others for the equilibrium of a typical non-extensive system, a self-gravitating and rotating cloud in a spherical container at various energies and angular-momenta. A rich variety of realistic configurations, as single stars, multi-star systems, rings and finally gas, are obtained as equilibrium microcanonical phases. The global phase diagram, the topology of the curvature, as function of energy and angular-momentum is presented. No exotic form of thermodynamics like Tsallis non-extensive one is necessary. It is further shown that a finite (even mesoscopic) system approaches equilibrium with a change of its entropy Delta S\ge 0 (Second Law) even when its Poincarre recurrence time is not large.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Microcanonical mean-field thermodynamics of self-gravitating and rotating systems

We derive the global phase diagram of a self-gravitating $N$-body system enclosed in a finite three-dimensional spherical volume $V$ as a function of total energy and angular momentum, employing a microcanonical mean-field approach. At low angular momenta (i.e. for slowly rotating systems) the known collapse from a gas cloud to a single dense cluster is recovered. At high angular momenta, instead, rotational symmetry can be spontaneously broken and rotationally asymmetric structures (double clusters) appear.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

On the fragmentation of multiply charged sodium clusters

The fragmentation of multiply charged atomic sodium clusters of mass 200 is investigated using the Micro-canonical Metropolis Monte Carlo (MMMC) statistical technique for excitation energies up to 200 eV and for cluster charges up to $+9e$. In this work we present caloric curves and charged and uncharged fragment mass distributions for clusters with charges 0, 2, and 4. The caloric curves show a dip at the critical point implying a negative specific heat, as expected for finite systems, while the fragment mass distributions corroborate the picture of a phase transition from one dominant liquid-like cluster to complete vaporization.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Geometric Foundation of Thermo-Statistics, Phase Transitions, Second Law of Thermodynamics, but without Thermodynamic Limit

A geometric foundation thermo-statistics is presented with the only axiomatic assumption of Boltzmann's principle S(E,N,V)=k\ln W. This relates the entropy to the geometric area e^{S(E,N,V)/k} of the manifold of constant energy in the finite-N-body phase space. From the principle, all thermodynamics and especially all phenomena of phase transitions and critical phenomena can unambiguously be identified for even small systems. The topology of the curvature matrix C(E,N) of S(E,N) determines regions of pure phases, regions of phase separation, and (multi-)critical points and lines. Within Boltzmann's principle, Statistical Mechanics becomes a geometric theory addressing the whole ensemble or the manifold of all points in phase space which are consistent with the few macroscopic conserved control parameters. This interpretation leads to a straight derivation of irreversibility and the Second Law of Thermodynamics out of the time-reversible, microscopic, mechanical dynamics. This is all possible without invoking the thermodynamic limit, extensivity, or concavity of S(E,N,V). The main obstacle against the Second Law, the conservation of the phase-space volume due to Liouville is overcome by realizing that a macroscopic theory like Thermodynamics cannot distinguish a fractal distribution in phase space from its closure.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

Straight way to Thermo-Statistics, Phase Transitions, Second Law of Thermodynamics, but without Thermodynamic Limit

Boltzmann's principle S(E,N,V)=k\ln W relates the entropy to the geometric area e^{S(E,N,V)} of the manifold of constant energy in the N-body phase space. From the principle all thermodynamics and especially all phenomena of phase transitions and critical phenomena can be deduced. The topology of the curvature matrix C(E,N) (Hessian) of S(E,N) determines regions of pure phases, regions of phase separation, and (multi-)critical points and lines. Thus, C(E,N) describes all kind of phase-transitions with all their flavor. They are linked to convex (upwards bending) intruders of S(E,N), here the canonical ensemble defined by the Laplace transform to the intensive variables becomes non-local and violates the basic conservation laws (it mixes widely different conserved quantities). Thus Statistical Mechanics becomes a geometric theory addressing the whole ensemble or the manifold of all points in phase space which are consistent with the few macroscopic conserved control parameters. Moreover, this interpretation leads to a straight derivation of irreversibility and the Second Law of Thermodynamics out of the time-reversible microscopic mechanical dynamics. It is the whole ensemble that spreads irreversibly over the accessible phase space not the single N-body trajectory. This is all possible without invoking the thermodynamic limit, extensivity, or concavity of S(E,N,V) and also without invoking any cosmological constraints. It is further shown that non-extensive Hamiltonian systems at equilibrium are described by Boltzmann's principle and not by Tsallis non-extensive statistics.

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