TY - JOUR
T1 - Microscopic origins of irreversible macroscopic behavior
AU - Lebowitz, Joel L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Very extensivea nd very useful discussionws ith my colleagueSs heldonG oldsteina nd Eugene Speer are gratefullya cknowledgedR.e searchs upportedin part by NSF Grant 95-23266a, nd AFOSR Grant F49620-98-1-0207.
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - 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. Alternate 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.
AB - 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. Alternate 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.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0378-4371(98)00514-7
DO - 10.1016/S0378-4371(98)00514-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0002542839
SN - 0378-4371
VL - 263
SP - 516
EP - 527
JO - Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
JF - Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
IS - 1-4
ER -