arXiv subjects

Leonardo J. L. Cirto

Publications and source records attributed to Leonardo J. L. Cirto.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2018

Validity and Failure of the Boltzmann Weight

The dynamics and thermostatistics of a classical inertial XY model, characterized by long-range interactions, are investigated on $d$-dimensional lattices ($d=1,2,$ and 3), through molecular dynamics. The interactions between rotators decay with the distance $r_{ij}$ like~$1/r_{ij}^α$ ($α\geq 0$), where $α\to\infty$ and $α=0$ respectively correspond to the nearest-neighbor and infinite-range interactions. We verify that the momenta probability distributions are Maxwellians in the short-range regime, whereas $q$-Gaussians emerge in the long-range regime. Moreover, in this latter regime, the individual energy probability distributions are characterized by long tails, corresponding to $q$-exponential functions. The present investigation strongly indicates that, in the long-range regime, central properties fall out of the scope of Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics, depending on $d$ and $α$ through the ratio $α/d$.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

From QCD-based hard-scattering to nonextensive statistical mechanical descriptions of transverse momentum spectra in high-energy $pp$ and $p\bar p$ collisions

Transverse spectra of both jets and hadrons obtained in high-energy $pp$ and $p\bar p $ collisions at central rapidity exhibit power-law behavior of $1/p_T^n$ at high $p_T$. The power index $n$ is 4-5 for jet production and is 6-10 for hadron production. Furthermore, the hadron spectra spanning over 14 orders of magnitude down to the lowest $p_T$ region in $pp$ collisions at LHC can be adequately described by a single nonextensive statistical mechanical distribution that is widely used in other branches of science. This suggests indirectly the possible dominance of the hard-scattering process over essentially the whole $p_T$ region at central rapidity in high-energy $pp$ and $p \bar p$ collisions. We show here direct evidences of such a dominance of the hard-scattering process by investigating the power indices of UA1 and ATLAS jet spectra over an extended $p_T$ region and the two-particle correlation data of the STAR and PHENIX Collaborations in high-energy $pp$ and $p \bar p$ collisions at central rapidity. We then study how the showering of the hard-scattering product partons alters the power index of the hadron spectra and leads to a hadron distribution that may be cast into a single-particle nonextensive statistical mechanical distribution. Because of such a connection, the nonextensive statistical mechanical distribution may be considered as a lowest-order approximation of the hard-scattering of partons followed by the subsequent process of parton showering that turns the jets into hadrons, in high energy $pp$ and $p\bar p$ collisions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Controlling the Range of Interactions in the Classical Inertial Ferromagnetic Heisenberg Model: Analysis of Metastable States

A numerical analysis of a one-dimensional Hamiltonian system, composed by $N$ classical localized Heisenberg rotators on a ring, is presented. A distance $r_{ij}$ between rotators at sites $i$ and $j$ is introduced, such that the corresponding two-body interaction decays with $r_{ij}$ as a power-law, $1/r_{ij}^α$ ($α\ge 0$). The index $α$ controls the range of the interactions, in such a way that one recovers both the fully-coupled (i.e., mean-field limit) and nearest-neighbour-interaction models in the particular limits $α=0$ and $α\to\infty$, respectively. The dynamics of the model is investigated for energies $U$ below its critical value ($U<U_{c}$), with initial conditions corresponding to zero magnetization. The presence of quasi-stationary states (QSSs), whose durations $t_{\rm QSS}$ increase for increasing values of $N$, is verified for values of $α$ in the range $0 \leq α<1$, like the ones found for the similar model of XY rotators. Moreover, for a given energy $U$, our numerical analysis indicates that $t_{\rm QSS} \sim N^γ$, where the exponent $γ$ decreases for increasing $α$ in the range $0 \leq α<1$, and particularly, our results suggest that $γ\to 0$ as $α\to 1$. The growth of $t_{\rm QSS}$ with $N$ could be interpreted as a breakdown of ergodicity, which is shown herein to occur for any value of $α$ in this interval.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

Possible Implication of a Single Nonextensive $p_T$ Distribution for Hadron Production in High-Energy $pp$ Collisions

Multiparticle production processes in $pp$ collisions at the central rapidity region are usually considered to be divided into independent "soft" and "hard" components. The first is described by exponential (thermal-like) transverse momentum spectra in the low-$p_T$ region with a scale parameter $T$ associated with the temperature of the hadronizing system. The second is governed by a power-like distributions of transverse momenta with power index $n$ at high-$p_T$ associated with the hard scattering between partons. We show that the hard-scattering integral can be approximated as a nonextensive distribution of a quasi-power-law containing a scale parameter $T$ and a power index $n=1/(q -1)$, where $q$ is the nonextensivity parameter. We demonstrate that the whole region of transverse momenta presently measurable at LHC experiments at central rapidity (in which the observed cross sections varies by $14$ orders of magnitude down to the low $p_T$ region) can be adequately described by a single nonextensive distribution. These results suggest the dominance of the hard-scattering hadron-production process and the approximate validity of a "no-hair" statistical-mechanical description of the $p_T$ spectra for the whole $p_T$ region at central rapidity for $pp$ collisions at high-energies.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Thermodynamics is more powerful than the role to it reserved by Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics

We brief{}ly review the connection between statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. We show that, in order to satisfy thermodynamics and its Legendre transformation mathematical frame, the celebrated Boltzmann-Gibbs~(BG) statistical mechanics is suff{}icient but not necessary. Indeed, the $N\to\infty$ limit of statistical mechanics is expected to be consistent with thermodynamics. For systems whose elements are generically independent or quasi-independent in the sense of the theory of probabilities, it is well known that the BG theory (based on the additive BG entropy) does satisfy this expectation. However, in complete analogy, other thermostatistical theories (\emph{e.g.}, $q$-statistics), based on nonadditive entropic functionals, also satisfy the very same expectation. We illustrate this standpoint with systems whose elements are strongly correlated in a specific manner, such that they escape the BG realm.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2014

The transverse-momenta distributions in high-energy $pp$ collisions -- A statistical-mechanical approach

We analyze LHC available data measuring the distribution probability of transverse momenta~$p_T$ in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=0.9\,\textrm{TeV}$ (CMS, ALICE, ATLAS) and $\sqrt{s}=7\,\textrm{TeV}$ (CMS, ATLAS). A remarkably good fitting can be obtained, along fourteen decades in magnitude, by phenomenologically using $q$-statistics for a {\it single} particle of a two-dimensional relativistic ideal gas. The parameters that have been obtained by assuming $\textrm{d}N/p_T\textrm{d}p_T\textrm{d}y \propto e_q^{-E_T/T}$ at mid-rapidity are, in all cases, $q \simeq 1.1$ and $T\simeq 0.13\,\textrm{GeV}$ (which satisfactorily compares with the pion mass). This fact suggests the approximate validity of a "no-hair" statistical-mechanical description of the hard-scattering hadron-production process in which the detailed mechanisms of parton scattering, parton cascades, parton fragmentation, running coupling and other information can be subsumed under the stochastic dynamics in the lowest-order description. In addition to that basic structure, a finer analysis of the data suggests a small oscillatory structure on top of the leading $q$-exponential. The physical origin of such intriguing oscillatory behavior remains elusive, though it could be related to some sort of fractality or scale-invariance within the system.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Influence of the interaction range on the thermostatistics of a classical many-body system

We numerically study a one-dimensional system of $N$ classical localized planar rotators coupled through interactions which decay with distance as $1/r^α$ ($α\ge 0$). The approach is a first principle one (\textit{i.e.}, based on Newton's law), and yields the probability distribution of momenta. For $α$ large enough and $N\gg1$ we observe, for longstanding states, the Maxwellian distribution, landmark of Boltzmann-Gibbs thermostatistics. But, for $α$ small or comparable to unity, we observe instead robust fat-tailed distributions that are quite well fitted with $q$-Gaussians. These distributions extremize, under appropriate simple constraints, the nonadditive entropy $S_q$ upon which nonextensive statistical mechanics is based. The whole scenario appears to be consistent with nonergodicity and with the thesis of the $q$-generalized Central Limit Theorem.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2013

Black hole thermodynamical entropy

As early as 1902, Gibbs pointed out that systems whose partition function diverges, e.g. gravitation, lie outside the validity of the Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) theory. Consistently, since the pioneering Bekenstein-Hawking results, physically meaningful evidence (e.g., the holographic principle) has accumulated that the BG entropy $S_{BG}$ of a $(3+1)$ black hole is proportional to its area $L^2$ ($L$ being a characteristic linear length), and not to its volume $L^3$. Similarly it exists the \emph{area law}, so named because, for a wide class of strongly quantum-entangled $d$-dimensional systems, $S_{BG}$ is proportional to $\ln L$ if $d=1$, and to $L^{d-1}$ if $d>1$, instead of being proportional to $L^d$ ($d \ge 1$). These results violate the extensivity of the thermodynamical entropy of a $d$-dimensional system. This thermodynamical inconsistency disappears if we realize that the thermodynamical entropy of such nonstandard systems is \emph{not} to be identified with the BG {\it additive} entropy but with appropriately generalized {\it nonadditive} entropies. Indeed, the celebrated usefulness of the BG entropy is founded on hypothesis such as relatively weak probabilistic correlations (and their connections to ergodicity, which by no means can be assumed as a general rule of nature). Here we introduce a generalized entropy which, for the Schwarzschild black hole and the area law, can solve the thermodynamic puzzle.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗