Chaos and Coarse Graining in Statistical Mechanics

Description

While statistical mechanics describe the equilibrium state of systems with many degrees of freedom, and dynamical systems explain the irregular evolution of systems with few degrees of freedom, new tools are needed to study the evolution of systems with many degrees of freedom. This book presents the basic aspects of chaotic systems, with emphasis on systems composed by huge numbers of particles. Firstly, the basic concepts of chaotic dynamics are introduced, moving on to explore the role of ergodicity and chaos for the validity of statistical laws, and ending with problems characterized by the presence of more than one significant scale. Also discussed is the relevance of many degrees of freedom, coarse graining procedure, and instability mechanisms in justifying a statistical description of macroscopic bodies. Introducing the tools to characterize the non asymptotic behaviors of chaotic systems, this text will interest researchers and graduate students in statistical mechanics and chaos.

Patrizia Castiglione is a Researcher at the Institut des Nanosciences de Paris. Her main research topics are dynamical systems theory, quantum and classic chaos, turbulence, and the physics of colours applied to the study of artwork. Massimo Falcioni is a Researcher at the University of Rome 'Sapienza'. His research focuses on elementary particle physics, dynamical systems and statistical mechanics. Annick Lesne is a Researcher at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques. Her research lies in renormalization methods for dynamical systems, non equilibrium statistical physics, and applications of dynamical systems theory and statistical mechanics to biological systems. Angelo Vulpiani is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Rome "Sapienza", and is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. His research interests are statistical mechanics, dynamical systems, turbulence, transport and reaction-diffusion in fluids.

'This is an excellent book written in highly polished fashion by four experts in the fields of dynamical systems and statistical mechanics. ... discussions are clear and forthright and no attempt is made to obfuscate or to hide things under a rug ... This is an excellent book for experts in the field and would provide a provocative textbook for graduate students. I couldn't find any typos or misstatements ...' Journal of Statistical Physics