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The Road to Maxwell's demon / conceptual foundations of statistical mechanics.
A philosophical perspective to statistical mechanics for graduate students and researchers in the foundations and philosophy of physics.
| Clasificación: | Libro Electrónico |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Otros Autores: | |
| Formato: | Electrónico eBook |
| Idioma: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Cambridge ; New York :
Cambridge University Press,
2012.
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| Temas: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Texto completo |
Tabla de Contenidos:
- Cover ; The Road to Maxwell's Demon: Conceptual Foundations of Statistical Mechanics; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface; 1 Introduction; 2 Thermodynamics; 2.1 The experience of asymmetry in time; 2.2 The Law of Conservation of Energy; 2.3 The Law of Approach to Equilibrium; 2.4 The Second Law of Thermodynamics; 2.5 The status of the laws of thermodynamics; 3 Classical mechanics; 3.1 The fundamental theory of the world; 3.2 Introducing classical mechanics; 3.3 Mechanical states; 3.4 Time evolution of mechanical states; 3.5 Thermodynamic magnitudes; 3.6 A mechanical no-go theorem.
- Definition of equilibriumThe Law of Approach to Equilibrium; The Second Law; 3.7 The ergodic approach; 3.8 Conclusion; 4 Time; 4.1 Introduction: why mechanics cannot underwrite thermodynamics; 4.2 Classical kinematics; 4.3 The direction of time and the direction of velocity in time; 4.4 The description of mechanical states; 4.5 Velocity reversal; 4.6 Retrodiction; 4.7 Time reversal and time-reversal invariance; 4.8 Why the time-reversal invariance of classical mechanics matters; 5 Macrostates; 5.1 The physical nature of macrostates; 5.2 How do macrostates come about?; A very important remark.
- 5.2.1 Measuring devices and macrostates5.3 Explaining thermodynamics with macrostates; 5.4 The dynamics of macrostates; 5.5 The physical origin of thermodynamic macrostates; 5.6 Boltzmann's macrostates; 5.7 Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution; 5.8 The observer in statistical mechanics; 5.9 Counterfactual observers; 6 Probability; 6.1 Introduction; 6.2 Probability in statistical mechanics; A very important remark; 6.3 Choice of measure in statistical mechanics; 6.4 Measure of a macrostate and its probability; 6.5 Transition probabilities without blobs; 6.6 Dependence on observed history?
- 6.7 The spin echo experiments6.8 Robustness of transition probabilities; 6.9 No probability over initial conditions; 7 Entropy; 7.1 Introduction; 7.2 Entropy; 7.3 The distinction between entropy and probability; 7.4 Equilibrium in statistical mechanics; 7.5 Law of Approach to Equilibrium; 7.6 Second Law of Thermodynamics; 7.7 Boltzmann's H-theorem; 7.8 Loschmidt's reversibility objection; 7.9 Poincaré's recurrence theorem; 7.10 Boltzmann's combinatorial argument; 7.11 Back to Boltzmann's equation: Lanford's theorem; 7.12 Conclusion; 8 Typicality; 8.1 Introduction.
- 8.2 The explanatory arrow in statistical mechanics8.3 Typicality; 8.4 Are there natural measures?; 8.5 Typical initial conditions; 8.6 Measure-1 theorems and typicality; 8.7 Conclusion; 9 Measurement; 9.1 Introduction; 9.2 What is measurement in classical mechanics?; (A) Pre-measurement; (B) Split; (C) Outcome; 9.3 Collapse in classical measurement; 9.4 State preparation; 9.5 The shadows approach; 9.6 Entropy; 9.7 Status of the observer; 10 The past; 10.1 Introduction; 10.2 The problem of retrodiction; 10.3 The Past Hypothesis: memory and measurement; 10.4 The Reliability Hypothesis.