We present a unified formulation for quantum statistical physics based on the representation of the density matrix as a functional integral. We identify the stochastic variable of the effective statistical theory that we derive as a boundary configuration and a zero mode relevant to the discussion of infrared physics. We illustrate our formulation by computing the partition function of an interacting one-dimensional quantum mechanical system at finite temperature from the path-integral representation for the density matrix. The method of calculation provides an alternative to the usual sum over periodic trajectories: it sums over paths with coincident endpoints, and includes non-vanishing boundary terms. An appropriately modified expansion into Matsubara modes provides a natural separation of the zero-mode physics. This feature may be useful in the treatment of infrared divergences that plague the perturbative approach in thermal field theory.
Statistical physics has proven to be a very fruitful framework to describe phenomena outside the realm of traditional physics. The last years have witnessed the attempt by physicists to study collective phenomena emerging from the interactions of individuals as elementary units in social structures. Here we review the state of the art by focusing on a wide list of topics ranging from opinion, cultural and language dynamics to crowd behavior, hierarchy formation, human dynamics, social spreading. We highlight the connections between these problems and other, more traditional, topics of statistical physics. We also emphasize the comparison of model results with empirical data from social systems.
We investigate different measures of stability of quantum statistical ensembles with respect to local measurements. We call a quantum statistical ensemble stable if a small number of local measurements cannot significantly modify the total-energy distribution representing the ensemble. First, we numerically calculate the evolution of the stability measure introduced in our previous work [Phys. Rev. E 94, 062106 (2016)] for an ensemble representing a mixture of two canonical ensembles with very different temperatures in a periodic chain of interacting spins-1/2. Second, we propose other possible stability measures and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. We also show that, for small system sizes available to numerical simulations of local measurements, finite-size effects are rather pronounced.
We provide an historical perspective of how the notion of correlations has evolved within quantum physics. We begin by reviewing Shannons information theory and its first application in quantum physics, due to Everett, in explaining the information conveyed during a quantum measurement. This naturally leads us to Lindblads information theoretic analysis of quantum measurements and his emphasis of the difference between the classical and quantum mutual information. After briefly summarising the quantification of entanglement using these and related ideas, we arrive at the concept of quantum discord that naturally captures the boundary between entanglement and classical correlations. Finally we discuss possible links between discord and the generation of correlations in thermodynamic transformations of coupled harmonic oscillators.
Tropical limit for macroscopic systems in equilibrium defined as the formal limit of Boltzmann constant k going to 0 is discussed. It is shown that such tropical limit is well-adapted to analyse properties of systems with highly degenerated energy levels, particularly of frustrated systems like spin ice and spin glasses. Tropical free energy is a piecewise linear function of temperature, tropical entropy is a piecewise constant function and the system has energy for which tropical Gibbs probability has maximum. Properties of systems in the points of jump of entropy are studied. Systems with finite and infinitely many energy levels and phenomena of limiting temperatures are discussed.
Geometry of hypersurfaces defined by the relation which generalizes classical formula for free energy in terms of microstates is studied. Induced metric, Riemann curvature tensor, Gauss-Kronecker curvature and associated entropy are calculated. Special class of ideal statistical hypersurfaces is analyzed in details. Non-ideal hypersurfaces and their singularities similar to those of the phase transitions are considered. Tropical limit of statistical hypersurfaces and double scaling tropical limit are discussed too.