arXiv subjects

Joel Lebowitz

Publications and source records attributed to Joel Lebowitz.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Liquid-vapor transition in a model of a continuum particle system with finite-range modified Kac pair potential

We prove the existence of a phase transition in dimension $d>1$ in a continuum particle system interacting with a pair potential containing a modified attractive Kac potential of range $\gamma^{-1}$, with $\gamma>0$. This transition is "close", for small positive $\gamma$, to the one proved previously by Lebowitz and Penrose in the van der Waals limit $\gamma\downarrow0$. It is of the type of the liquid-vapor transition observed when a fluid, like water, heated at constant pressure, boils at a given temperature. Previous results on phase transitions in continuum systems with stable potentials required the use of unphysical four-body interactions or special symmetries between the liquid and vapor. The pair interaction we consider is obtained by partitioning space into cubes of volume $\gamma^{-d}$, and letting the Kac part of the pair potential be uniform in each cube and act only between adjacent cubes. The "short-range" part of the pair potential is quite general (in particular, it may or may not include a hard core), but restricted to act only between particles in the same cube. Our setup, the "boxed particle model", is a special case of a general "spin" system, for which we establish a first-order phase transition using reflection positivity and the Dobrushin--Shlosman criterion.

math-ph↗

arXiv2022

On the Conversion of Work into Heat: Microscopic Models and Macroscopic Equations

We summarize and extend some of the results obtained recently for the microscopic and macroscopic behavior of a pinned harmonic chain, with random velocity flips at Poissonian times, acted on by a periodic force {at one end} and in contact with a heat bath at the other end. Here we consider the case where the system is in contact with two heat baths at different temperatures and a periodic force is applied at any position. This leads in the hydrodynamic limit to a heat equation for the temperature profile with a discontinuous slope at the position where the force acts. Higher dimensional systems, unpinned cases and anharmonic interactions are also considered.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2021

Time evolution of a mean-field generalized contact process

We investigate the macroscopic time evolution and stationary states of a mean field generalized contact process in $\mathbb{R}^d$. The model is described by a coupled set of nonlinear integral-differential equations. It was inspired by a model of neurons with discrete voltages evolving by a stochastic integrate and fire mechanism. We obtain a complete solution in the spatially uniform case and partial solutions in the general case. The system has one or more fixed points and also traveling wave solutions.

math.PR↗

arXiv2019

Autonomous evolution of electron speeds in a thermostatted system: exact results

We investigate a dynamical system consisting of $N$ particles moving on a $d$-dimensional torus under the action of an electric field $E$ with a Gaussian thermostat to keep the total energy constant. The particles are also subject to stochastic collisions which randomize direction but do not change the speed. We prove that in the van Hove scaling limit, $E\to 0$ and $t\to t/E^2$, the trajectory of the speeds $v_i$ is described by a stochastic differential equation corresponding to diffusion on a constant energy sphere. This verifies previously conjectured behavior. Our results are based on splitting the system's evolution into a "slow" process and an independent "noise". We show that the noise, suitably rescaled, converges a Brownian motion, enhanced in the sense of rough paths. Then we employ the Itô-Lyons continuity theorem to identify the limit of the slow process.

math-ph↗

arXiv2017

Quantitative Bounds on the Rate of Approach to Equilibrium for some One-Dimensional Stochastic Non-Linear Schrödinger Equations

We establish quantitative bounds on the rate of approach to equilibrium for a system with infinitely many degrees of freedom evolving according to a one-dimensional focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation with diffusive forcing. Equilibrium is described by a generalized grand canonical ensemble. Our analysis also applies to the easier case of defocusing nonlinearities

math-ph↗

arXiv2017

A Life in Statistical Mechanics. Part 1: From Chedar in Taceva, to Yeshiva University in New York

This is the first part of an oral history interview on the lifelong involvement of Joel Lebowitz in the development of statistical mechanics. Here the covered topics include the formative years, which overlapped the tragic period of Nazi power and World War II in Europe, the emigration to the United States in 1946 and the schooling there. It also includes the beginnings and early scientific works with Peter Bergmann, Oliver Penrose and many others. The second part will appear in a forthcoming issue of European Physical Journal H.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2016

Number rigidity in superhomogeneous random point fields

We give sufficient conditions for the number rigidity of a translation invariant or periodic point process on $\mathbb{R}^d$, where $d=1,2$. That is, the probability distribution of the number of particles in a bounded domain $Λ\subset \mathbb{R}^d$, conditional on the configuration on $Λ^\complement$, is concentrated on a single integer $N_Λ$. These conditions are : (a) the variance of the number of particles in a bounded domain $\mathcal{O} \subset \mathbb{R}^d$ grows slower than the volume of $\mathcal{O}$ (a.k.a. superhomogeneous point processes), when $\mathcal{O} \uparrow \mathbb{R}^d$ (in a self-similar manner), and (b) the truncated pair correlation function is bounded by $C_1[|x-y|+1]^{-2}$ in $d=1$ and by $C_2[|x-y|+1]^{-(4+ε)}$ in $d=2$. These conditions are satisfied by all known processes with number rigidity ([GP],[G],[PS],[AM],[Bu],[BuDQ], [BBNY], and many more) in $d=1,2$. We also observe, in the light of the results of [PS], that no such criteria exist in $d>2$.

math.PR↗

arXiv2014

Exponential Relaxation to Equilibrium for a One-Dimensional Focusing Non-Linear Schrödinger Equation with Noise

We construct generalized grand-canonical- and canonical Gibbs measures for a Hamiltonian system described in terms of a complex scalar field that is defined on a circle and satisfies a nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a focusing nonlinearity of order $p<6$. Key properties of these Gibbs measures, in particular absence of "phase transitions" and regularity properties of field samples, are established. We then study a time evolution of this system given by the Hamiltonian evolution perturbed by a stochastic noise term that mimics effects of coupling the system to a heat bath at some fixed temperature. The noise is of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type for the Fourier modes of the field, with the strength of the noise decaying to zero, as the frequency of the mode tends to $\infty$. We prove exponential approach of the state of the system to a grand-canonical Gibbs measure at a temperature and "chemical potential" determined by the stochastic noise term.

math-ph↗

arXiv2012

Speed Distribution of N Particles in the Thermostated Periodic Lorentz Gas with a Field

We study the long time evolution and stationary speed distribution of N point particles in 2D moving under the action of an external field E, and undergoing elastic collisions with either a fixed periodic array of convex scatterers, or with virtual random scatterers. The total kinetic energy of the N particles is kept fixed by a Gaussian thermostat which induces an interaction between the particles. We show analytically and numerically that for weak fields this distribution is universal, i.e. independent of the position or shape of the obstacles or the nature of the stochastic scattering. Our analysis is based on the existence of two time scales; the velocity directions become uniformized in times of order unity while the speeds change only on a time scale of O(|E|^-2).

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2011

Heat conduction in disordered harmonic lattices with energy conserving noise

We study heat conduction in a harmonic crystal whose bulk dynamics is supplemented by random reversals (flips) of the velocity of each particle at a rate $λ$. The system is maintained in a nonequilibrium stationary state(NESS) by contacts with Langevin reservoirs at different temperatures. We show that the one-body and pair correlations in this system are the same (after an appropriate mapping of parameters) as those obtained for a model with self-consistent reservoirs. This is true both for the case of equal and random(quenched) masses. While the heat conductivity in the NESS of the ordered system is known explicitly, much less is known about the random mass case. Here we investigate the random system, with velocity flips. We improve the bounds on the Green-Kubo conductivity obtained by C.Bernardin. The conductivity of the 1D system is then studied both numerically and analytically. This sheds some light on the effect of noise on the transport properties of systems with localized states caused by quenched disorder.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2006

Correlation Inequalities for Spin Glasses

We prove a correlation type inequality for spin systems with quenched symmetric random interactions. This gives monotonicity of the pressure with respect to the strength of the interaction for a class of spin glass models. Consequences include existence of the thermodynamic limit for the pressure and bounds on the surface pressure. We also describe other conjectured inequalities for such systems.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2001

Thermodynamic entropy production fluctuation in a two dimensional shear flow model

We investigate fluctuations in the momentum flux across a surface perpendicular to the velocity gradient in a stationary shear flow maintained by either thermostated deterministic or by stochastic boundary conditions. In the deterministic system the Gallavotti-Cohen (GC)relation for the probability of large deviations, which holds for the phase space volume contraction giving the Gibbs ensemble entropy production, never seems to hold for the flux which gives the hydrodynamic entropy production. In the stochastic case the GC relation is found to hold for the total flux, as predicted by extensions of the GC theorem but not for the flux across part of the surface. The latter appear to satisfy a modified GC relation. Similar results are obtained for the heat flux in a steady state produced by stochastic boundaries at different temperatures.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv1997

Phase Separation Kinetics in a Model with Order-Parameter Dependent Mobility

We present extensive results from 2-dimensional simulations of phase separation kinetics in a model with order-parameter dependent mobility. We find that the time-dependent structure factor exhibits dynamical scaling and the scaling function is numerically indistinguishable from that for the Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equation, even in the limit where surface diffusion is the mechanism for domain growth. This supports the view that the scaling form of the structure factor is "universal" and leads us to question the conventional wisdom that an accurate representation of the scaled structure factor for the CH equation can only be obtained from a theory which correctly models bulk diffusion.

cond-mat↗