Classical Equilibrium Thermostatistics, "Sancta sanctorum of Statistical Mechanics", From Nuclei to Stars

Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble. Classically this is the manifold of all points in the N-body phase space with the given total energy. Due to Boltzmann-Planck's principle, e^S=tr(\delta(E-H)), its geometrical size is related to the entropy S(E,N,V,...). This definition does not invoke any information theory, no thermodynamic limit, no extensivity, and no homogeneity assumption. Therefore, it describes the equilibrium statistics of extensive as well of non-extensive systems. Due to this fact it is the fundamental definition of any classical equilibrium statistics. It addresses nuclei and astrophysical objects as well. S(E,N,V,...) is multiply differentiable everywhere, even at phase-transitions. All kind of phase transitions can be distinguished harply and uniquely for even small systems. What is even more important, in contrast to the canonical theory, also the region of phase-space which corresponds to phase-separation is accessible, where the most interesting phenomena occur. No deformed q-entropy is needed for equilibrium. Boltzmann-Planck is the only appropriate statistics independent of whether the system is small or large, whether the system is ruled by short or long range forces.Comment: Invited paper for NEXT2003, 10pages, 6 figures Reference 1 correcte

Negative heat-capacity at phase-separations in microcanonical thermostatistics of macroscopic systems with either short or long-range interactions

Conventional thermo-statistics address infinite homogeneous systems within the canonical ensemble. However, some 170 years ago the original motivation of thermodynamics was the description of steam engines, i.e. boiling water. Its essential physics is the separation of the gas phase from the liquid. Of course, boiling water is inhomogeneous and as such cannot be treated by conventional thermo-statistics. Then it is not astonishing, that a phase transition of first order is signaled canonically by a Yang-Lee singularity. Thus it is only treated correctly by microcanonical Boltzmann-Planck statistics. This was elaborated in the talk presented at this conference. It turns out that the Boltzmann-Planck statistics is much richer and gives fundamental insight into statistical mechanics and especially into entropy. This can be done to a far extend rigorously and analytically. The deep and essential difference between ``extensive'' and ``intensive'' control parameters, i.e. microcanonical and canonical statistics, was exemplified by rotating, self-gravitating systems. In the present paper the necessary appearance of a convex entropy $S(E)$ and the negative heat capacity at phase separation in small as well macroscopic systems independently of the range of the force is pointed out.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table; contribution to the international conference "Next Sigma Phi" on news, expectations, and trends in statistical physics, Crete 200

On the inequivalence of statistical ensembles

We investigate the relation between various statistical ensembles of finite systems. If ensembles differ at the level of fluctuations of the order parameter, we show that the equations of states can present major differences. A sufficient condition for this inequivalence to survive at the thermodynamical limit is worked out. If energy consists in a kinetic and a potential part, the microcanonical ensemble does not converge towards the canonical ensemble when the partial heat capacities per particle fulfill the relation $c_{k}^{-1}+c_{p}^{-1}<0$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Non-extensive Hamiltonian systems follow Boltzmann's principle not Tsallis statistics. -- Phase Transitions, Second Law of Thermodynamics

Boltzmann's principle S(E,N,V)=k*ln W(E,N,V) relates the entropy to the geometric area e^{S(E,N,V)} of the manifold of constant energy in the N-body phase space. From the principle all thermodynamics and especially all phenomena of phase transitions and critical phenomena can be deduced. The topology of the curvature matrix C(E,N) (Hessian) of S(E,N) determines regions of pure phases, regions of phase separation, and (multi-)critical points and lines. Thus, C(E,N) describes all kind of phase-transitions with all their flavor. No assumptions of extensivity, concavity of S(E), or additivity have to be invoked. Thus Boltzmann's principle and not Tsallis statistics describes the equilibrium properties as well the approach to equilibrium of extensive and non-extensive Hamiltonian systems. No thermodynamic limit must be invoked.Comment: Contribution to "Non Extensive Thermodynamics and physical applications", Villasimius, May 2001, 10 pages, 1 figur

On the stability of the primordial closed string gas

We recast the study of a closed string gas in a toroidal container in the physical situation in which the single string density of states is independent of the volume because energy density is very high. This includes the gas for the well known Brandenberger-Vafa cosmological scenario. We describe the gas in the grandcanonical and microcanonical ensembles. In the microcanonical description, we find a result that clearly confronts the Brandenberger-Vafa calculation to get the specific heat of the system. The important point is that we use the same approach to the problem but a different regularization. By the way, we show that, in the complex temperature formalism, at the Hagedorn singularity, the analytic structure obtained from the so-called F-representation of the free energy coincides with the one computed using the S-representation.Comment: 20 pages and 1 figure. The final version that appeared in JHE

Freeze-out Configuration in Multifragmentation

The excitation energy and the nuclear density at the time of breakup are extracted for the $\alpha + ^{197}Au$ reaction at beam energies of 1 and 3.6 GeV/nucleon. These quantities are calculated from the average relative velocity of intermediate mass fragments (IMF) at large correlation angles as a function of the multiplicity of IMFs using a statistical model coupled with many-body Coulomb trajectory calculations. The Coulomb component $\vec{v}_{c}$ and thermal component $\vec{v}_{0}$ are found to depend oppositely on the excitation energy, IMFs multiplicity, and freeze-out density. These dependencies allow the determination of both the volume and the mean excitation energy at the time of breakup. It is found that the volume remained constant as the beam energy was increased, with a breakup density of about $\rho_{0}/7$, but that the excitation energy increased $25\%$ to about 5.5 MeV/nucleon.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures available upon resues

Searching for the statistically equilibrated systems formed in heavy ion collisions

Further improvements and refinements are brought to the microcanonical multifragmentation model [Al. H. Raduta and Ad. R. Raduta, Phys. Rev. C {\bf 55}, 1344 (1997); {\it ibid.} {\bf 61}, 034611 (2000)]. The new version of the model is tested on the recently published experimental data concerning the Xe+Sn at 32 MeV/u and Gd+U at 36 MeV/u reactions. A remarkable good simultaneous reproduction of fragment size observables and kinematic observables is to be noticed. It is shown that the equilibrated source can be unambiguously identified.Comment: Physical Review C, in pres

Lattice gas model for fragmentation: From Argon on Scandium to Gold on Gold

The recent fragmentation data for central collisions of Gold on Gold are even qualitatively different from those for central collisions of Argon on Scandium. The latter can be fitted with a lattice gas model calculation. Effort is made to understand why the model fails for Gold on Gold. The calculation suggests that the large Coulomb interaction which is operative for the larger system is responsible for this discrepancy. This is demonstrated by mapping the lattice gas model to a molecular dynamics calculation for disassembly. This mapping is quite faithful for Argon on Scandium but deviates strongly for Gold on Gold. The molecular dynamics calculation for disassembly reproduces the characteristics of the fragmentation data for both Gold on Gold and Argon on Scandium.Comment: 13 pages, Revtex, 8 figures in ps files, submitted to Phys. Rev.

The Origins of Phase Transitions in Small Systems

The identification and classification of phases in small systems, e.g. nuclei, social and financial networks, clusters, and biological systems, where the traditional definitions of phase transitions are not applicable, is important to obtain a deeper understanding of the phenomena observed in such systems. Within a simple statistical model we investigate the validity and applicability of different classification schemes for phase transtions in small systems. We show that the whole complex temperature plane contains necessary information in order to give a distinct classification.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, revtex 4 beta 5, for further information see http://www.smallsystems.d

Extended gaussian ensemble solution and tricritical points of a system with long-range interactions

The gaussian ensemble and its extended version theoretically play the important role of interpolating ensembles between the microcanonical and the canonical ensembles. Here, the thermodynamic properties yielded by the extended gaussian ensemble (EGE) for the Blume-Capel (BC) model with infinite-range interactions are analyzed. This model presents different predictions for the first-order phase transition line according to the microcanonical and canonical ensembles. From the EGE approach, we explicitly work out the analytical microcanonical solution. Moreover, the general EGE solution allows one to illustrate in details how the stable microcanonical states are continuously recovered as the gaussian parameter $\gamma$ is increased. We found out that it is not necessary to take the theoretically expected limit $\gamma \to \infty$ to recover the microcanonical states in the region between the canonical and microcanonical tricritical points of the phase diagram. By analyzing the entropy as a function of the magnetization we realize the existence of unaccessible magnetic states as the energy is lowered, leading to a treaking of ergodicity.Comment: 8 pages, 5 eps figures. Title modified, sections rewritten, tricritical point calculations added. To appear in EPJ