2015/12/08 by Gennaro Auletta, Lamberto Rondoni, Auletta, Gennaro +3
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #FOS: Physical sciences #Model Reduction and Neural Networks #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy #Thermoelastic and Magnetoelastic Phenomena #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1512.02588
arxiv created 2015/12/08 · openalex publication_date 2015/12/08 · arxiv updated 2015/12/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The maximum entropy principle (MEP) apparently allows us to derive, or justify, fundamental results of equilibrium statistical mechanics. Because of this, a school of thought considers the MEP as a powerful and elegant way to make predictions in physics and other disciplines, which constitutes an alternative and more general method than the traditional ones of statistical mechanics. Actually, careful inspection shows that such a success is due to a series of fortunate facts that characterize the physics of equilibrium systems, but which are absent in situations not described by Hamiltonian dynamics, or generically in nonequilibrium phenomena. Here we discuss several important examples in non equilibrium statistical mechanics, in which the MEP leads to incorrect predictions, proving that it does not have a predictive nature. We conclude that, in these paradigmatic examples, the "traditional" methods based on a detailed analysis of the relevant dynamics cannot be avoided.