Microscopic time-reversibility and macroscopic irreversibility: Still a paradox

Conference · Wed Sep 13 00:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:114019

Posch, H A; Dellago, Ch ^[1]; Hoover, W G; Kum, O ^[2]

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1. Universitaet Wien (Austria). Inst. fuer Experimentalphysik
2. California Univ., Davis, CA (United States)

Microscopic time reversibility and macroscopic irreversibility are a paradoxical combination. This was first observed by J. Loschmidt in 1876 and was explained, for conservative systems, by L. Boltzmann the following year. Both these features are also present in modern simulations of classic many-body systems in steady nonequilibrium states. We illustrate them here for the simplest possible models, a continuous one-dimensional model of field-driven diffusion, the so-called driven Lorentz gas or Galton Board, and an ergodic time reversible dissipative map.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); Government of the Republic of Korea, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 114019
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-122100; CONF-9506268-1; ON: DE96000391; CNN: Grant P09677
• Resource Relation: Conference: University of Vienna symposium, Vienna (Austria), 25-28 Jun 1995; Other Information: PBD: 13 Sep 1995
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
STATISTICAL MECHANICS
TIME DEPENDENCE
ASYMMETRY
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
ATTRACTORS
BOLTZMANN EQUATION