When does a Boltzmannian equilibrium exist?
Werndl, Charlotte; and Frigg, Roman
(2023)
When does a Boltzmannian equilibrium exist?
In:
Current Debates in Philosophy of Science:In Honor of Roberto Torretti.
Synthese Library
(477).
Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham, Switzerland, 247 – 273.
ISBN 9783031323744
We present a definition of equilibrium for Boltzmannian statistical mechanics based on the long-run fraction of time a system spends in a state. We then formulate and prove an existence theorem which provides general criteria for the existence of an equilibrium state. We illustrate how the theorem works with toy example. After a look at the ergodic programme, we discuss equilibria in a number of different gas systems: the ideal gas, the dilute gas, the Kac gas, the stadium gas, the mushroom gas and the multi-mushroom gas.
| Item Type | Chapter |
|---|---|
| Departments | Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method |
| DOI | 10.1007/978-3-031-32375-1_10 |
| Date Deposited | 05 Jan 2024 14:54 |
| URI | https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/121180 |
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ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0812-0907