Microscopic origins of irreversible macroscopic behavior

Joel L. Lebowitz

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 1999, vol. 263, issue 1, 516-527

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.

Date: 1999
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:263:y:1999:i:1:p:516-527

DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(98)00514-7

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