1996/06/06 by Stephen L. Adler, L. P. Horwitz · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.531714
published as J.Math.Phys. 37 (1996) 5429-5443 · Plain TeX, 18 pages. Corrected report number only
arxiv created 1996/06/06 · openalex publication_date 1996/11/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
It has recently been shown, by application of statistical mechanical methods to determine the canonical ensemble governing the equilibrium distribution of operator initial values, that complex quantum field theory can emerge as a statistical approximation to an underlying generalized quantum dynamics. This result was obtained by an argument based on a Ward identity analogous to the equipartition theorem of classical statistical mechanics. We construct here a microcanonical ensemble which forms the basis of this canonical ensemble. This construction enables us to define the microcanonical entropy and free energy of the field configuration of the equilibrium distribution and to study the stability of the canonical ensemble. We also study the algebraic structure of the conserved generators from which the microcanonical and canonical ensembles are constructed, and the flows they induce on the phase space.