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- Title
Rethinking Boltzmannian Equilibrium.
- Authors
Werndl, Charlotte; Frigg, Roman
- Abstract
Boltzmannian statistical mechanics partitions the phase space of a system into macroregions, and the largest of these is identified with equilibrium. What justifies this identification? Common answers focus on Boltzmann's combinatorial argument, the Maxwell- Boltzmann distribution, and maximumentropy considerations. We argue that they fail and present a new answer. We characterize equilibrium as the macrostate in which a system spends most of its time and prove a new theorem establishing that equilibrium thus defined corresponds to the largest macroregion. Our derivation is completely general and does not rely on assumptions about the dynamics or interparticle interactions.
- Subjects
BOLTZMANN'S equation; STATISTICAL equilibrium; MAXWELL-Boltzmann distribution law; MAXWELL-Boltzmann statistics; PHILOSOPHY in statistics
- Publication
Philosophy of Science, 2015, Vol 82, Issue 5, p1224
- ISSN
0031-8248
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1086/683649