2002/04/06 by M. Koslowski, Marisol Koslowski, M. Ortiz +3 · 2 citations
Computer Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Classical mechanics #Dissipative system #FOS: Physical sciences #Mathematical Biology Tumor Growth #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Physics #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Statistical mechanics #Statistical physics #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0204157
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University) · 5 pages 2 figures
arxiv created 2002/04/06 · openalex publication_date 2002/04/06 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We propose a generalization of classical statistical mechanics which describes the behavior of dissipative systems placed in contact with a heat bath. In contrast to conventional statistical mechanics, which assigns probabilities to the states of the system, the generalized theory assigns probabilities to the trajectories of the system. The conditional probability of pairs of states at two different times is given by a path integral. We present two simple analytically-tractable examples which illustrate the predicted effect of temperature on the mean trajectories, hysteresis and drift of the system.