https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00137-6
Fluctuation theorem and chaos
Dipartimento di Fisica and INFN, Università di Roma La Sapienza, P.A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy
Corresponding author: a giovanni.gallavotti@romal.infn.it
Received:
19
February
2008
Published online:
2
April
2008
The heat theorem (i.e. the second law of thermodynamics or the existence of entropy) is a manifestation of a general property of hamiltonian mechanics and of the ergodic hypothesis. In nonequilibrium thermodynamics of stationary states the chaotic hypothesis plays a similar role: it allows a unique determination of the probability distribution (called SRB distribution) on phase space providing the time averages of the observables. It also implies an expression for a few averages concrete enough to derive consequences of symmetry properties like the fluctuation theorem or to formulate a theory of coarse graining unifying the foundations of equilibrium and of nonequilibrium.
PACS: 05.20.-y – Classical statistical mechanics / 05.70.Ln – Nonequilibrium and irreversible thermodynamics / 05.40.-a – Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and Brownian motion
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2008
