No Arabic abstract
As first shown by H. S. Green in 1952, the entropy of a classical fluid of identical particles can be written as a sum of many-particle contributions, each of them being a distinctive functional of all spatial distribution functions up to a given order. By revisiting the combinatorial derivation of the entropy formula, we argue that a similar correlation expansion holds for the entropy of a crystalline system. We discuss how one- and two-body entropies scale with the size of the crystal, and provide fresh numerical data to check the expectation, grounded on theoretical arguments, that both entropies are extensive quantities.
We derive the multiparticle-correlation expansion of the excess entropy of classical particles in the canonical ensemble using a new approach that elucidates the rationale behind each term in the expansion. This formula provides the theoretical framework for an entropy-based ordering criterion that has been already tested for a variety of model fluids and thermodynamic phenomena. In view of future investigations of the phase diagram of colloidal mixtures, we detail in this paper the case of a two-component system of spherical and rod-like particles and discuss the symmetries underlying both the self and distinct pair-distribution functions under various geometrical constraints.
To illustrate Boltzmanns construction of an entropy function that is defined for a single microstate of a system, we present here the simple example of the free expansion of a one dimensional gas of hard point particles. The construction requires one to define macrostates, corresponding to macroscopic observables. We discuss two different choices, both of which yield the thermodynamic entropy when the gas is in equilibrium. We show that during the free expansion process, both the entropies converge to the equilibrium value at long times. The rate of growth of entropy, for the two choice of macrostates, depends on the coarse graining used to define them, with different limiting behaviour as the coarse graining gets finer. We also find that for only one of the two choices is the entropy a monotonically increasing function of time. Our system is non-ergodic, non-chaotic and essentially non-interacting; our results thus illustrate that these concepts are not very relevant for the question of irreversibility and entropy increase. Rather, the notions of typicality, large numbers and coarse-graining are the important factors. We demonstrate these ideas through extensive simulations as well as analytic results.
We present an alternative derivation of the pair correlation function for simple classical fluids by using a variational approach. That approach involves the conditional probability p(3,..., N /1, 2) of an undefined system of N particles with respect to a given pair (1,2), and the definition of a conditional entropy $sigma$(3,..., N /1, 2). An additivity assumption of $sigma$(3,..., N /1, 2) together with a superposition assumption for p(3 / 1, 2) allows deriving the pair probability p(1,2). We then focus onto the case of simple classical fluids, which leads to an integral, non-linear equation that formally allows computing the pair correlation function g(R). That equation admits the one resulting from the hyper netted chain approximation (and the Percus-Yevick approximation) as a limit case.
Conventional methods to calculate the thermodynamics of crystals evaluate the harmonic phonon spectra and therefore do not work in frequent and important situations where the crystal structure is unstable in the harmonic approximation, such as the body-centered cubic (bcc) crystal structure when it appears as a high-temperature phase of many metals. A method for calculating temperature dependent phonon spectra self consistently from first principles has been developed to address this issue. The method combines concepts from Borns inter-atomic self-consistent phonon approach with first principles calculations of accurate inter-atomic forces in a super-cell. The method has been tested on the high temperature bcc phase of Ti, Zr and Hf, as representative examples, and is found to reproduce the observed high temperature phonon frequencies with good accuracy.
Recently, an Enskog-type kinetic theory for Vicsek-type models for self-propelled particles has been proposed [T. Ihle, Phys. Rev. E 83, 030901 (2011)]. This theory is based on an exact equation for a Markov chain in phase space and is not limited to small density. Previously, the hydrodynamic equations were derived from this theory and its transport coefficients were given in terms of infinite series. Here, I show that the transport coefficients take a simple form in the large density limit. This allows me to analytically evaluate the well-known density instability of the polarly ordered phase near the flocking threshold at moderate and large densities. The growth rate of a longitudinal perturbation is calculated and several scaling regimes, including three different power laws, are identified. It is shown that at large densities, the restabilization of the ordered phase at smaller noise is analytically accessible within the range of validity of the hydrodynamic theory. Analytical predictions for the width of the unstable band, the maximum growth rate and for the wave number below which the instability occurs are given. In particular, the system size below which spatial perturbations of the homogeneous ordered state are stable is predicted to scale with $sqrt{M}$ where $M$ is the average number of collision partners. The typical time scale until the instability becomes visible is calculated and is proportional to M.