An interesting connection between the Regge theory of scattering, the Veneziano amplitude, the Lee-Yang theorems in statistical mechanics and nonextensive Renyi entropy is addressed. In this scheme the standard entropy and the Renyi entropy appear to be different limits of a unique mathematical object. This framework sheds light on the physical origin of nonextensivity. A non trivial application to spin glass theory is shortly outlined.
In this work the non-equilibrium density operator approach introduced by Zubarev more than 50 years ago to describe quantum systems at local thermodynamic equilibrium is revisited. This method - which was used to obtain the first Kubo formula of shear viscosity, is especially suitable to describe quantum effects in fluids. This feature makes it a viable tool to describe the physics of the Quark Gluon Plasma in relativistic nuclear collisions.
Statistical mechanics of 1D multivalent Coulomb gas may be mapped onto non-Hermitian quantum mechanics. We use this example to develop instanton calculus on Riemann surfaces. Borrowing from the formalism developed in the context of Seiberg-Witten duality, we treat momentum and coordinate as complex variables. Constant energy manifolds are given by Riemann surfaces of genus $ggeq 1$. The actions along principal cycles on these surfaces obey ODE in the moduli space of the Riemann surface known as Picard-Fuchs equation. We derive and solve Picard-Fuchs equations for Coulomb gases of various charge content. Analysis of monodromies of these solutions around their singular points yields semiclassical spectra as well as instanton effects such as Bloch bandwidth. Both are shown to be in perfect agreement with numerical simulations.
We review the field of the glass transition, glassy dynamics and aging from a statistical mechanics perspective. We give a brief introduction to the subject and explain the main phenomenology encountered in glassy systems, with a particular emphasis on spatially heterogeneous dynamics. We review the main theoretical approaches currently available to account for these glassy phenomena, including recent developments regarding mean-field theory of liquids and glasses, novel computational tools, and connections to the jamming transition. Finally, the physics of aging and off-equilibrium dynamics exhibited by glassy materials is discussed.
Recently, we have presented some simple arguments supporting the existence of certain complementarity between thermodynamic quantities of temperature and energy, an idea suggested by Bohr and Heinsenberg in the early days of Quantum Mechanics. Such a complementarity is expressed as the impossibility of perform an exact simultaneous determination of the system energy and temperature by using an experimental procedure based on the thermal equilibrium with other system regarded as a measure apparatus (thermometer). In this work, we provide a simple generalization of this latter approach with the consideration of a thermodynamic situation with several control parameters.