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Microscopic origins of irreversible macroscopic behavior

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  • Lebowitz, Joel L.

Abstract

Time-asymmetric behavior as embodied in the second law of thermodynamics is observed in individual macroscopic systems. It can be understood as arising naturally from time-symmetric microscopic laws in accord with the ideas of Thompson, Maxwell and Boltzmann. Alternative explanations based on equating irreversible macroscopic behavior with the mixing type of behavior already present in the time evolution of ensembles (probability distributions) of certain systems having only a few degrees of freedom are, in my opinion, unnecessary, misguided and misleading.

Suggested Citation

  • Lebowitz, Joel L., 1999. "Microscopic origins of irreversible macroscopic behavior," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 263(1), pages 516-527.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:263:y:1999:i:1:p:516-527
    DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(98)00514-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Gorban, Alexander, 2007. "Order–disorder separation: Geometric revision," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 374(1), pages 85-102.
    2. Kalogeropoulos, Nikolaos, 2018. "Time irreversibility from symplectic non-squeezing," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 495(C), pages 202-210.
    3. Lebed, Igor V., 2019. "The cause for emergence of irreversibility," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 524(C), pages 325-341.
    4. Creaco, Anthony J. & Kalogeropoulos, Nikolaos, 2019. "Irreversibility from staircases in symplectic embeddings," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 513(C), pages 497-509.
    5. Waldner, Franz & Hoover, William G. & Hoover, Carol G., 2014. "The brief time-reversibility of the local Lyapunov exponents for a small chaotic Hamiltonian system," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 68-76.
    6. Ali, S.A. & Cafaro, C. & Kim, D.-H. & Mancini, S., 2010. "The effect of microscopic correlations on the information geometric complexity of Gaussian statistical models," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(16), pages 3117-3127.
    7. Pérez-Cárdenas, Fernando C. & Resca, Lorenzo & Pegg, Ian L., 2016. "Microscopic reversibility and macroscopic irreversibility: A lattice gas model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 457(C), pages 82-92.

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