2025/11/27 by Tingzhang Shi, Shi, Tingzhang, Chongchong Qi +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy #stochastic dynamics and bifurcation
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2511.22431
openalex publication_date 2025/11/27 · openalex created_date 2025/12/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We investigate the non-equilibrium four-vector work in an expanding relativistic piston. We derive the exact work distribution in this pedagogical model and find that the joint distribution of four-vector work (W0, W1) concentrates on the origin and some curves in the (W0, W1) space, rather than being smoothly distributed. In the non-relativistic limit, our model consistently recovers the non-relativistic dynamics. We further demonstrate that the momentum component of four-vector work remains significant in both the Lorentz-relativistic and Galilean-relativistic frameworks. On top of the work distribution, we verify a family of covariant fluctuation theorems of work. In addition, we introduce a novel geometrical technique for analyzing the dynamics of relativistic collision processes, which can be straightforwardly extended to multi-dimensional piston models.