Jim Lutsko

Jim Lutsko

he/him

My interests include Statistical Physics; Crystallization; Density Functional Theory, Simulation methods - particularly rare event techniques, Protein physics, Granular physics and Crystal Growth. I am based in the Physics of Complex Systems and Statistical Mechanics group at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

[081] Questioning the validity of non-extensive thermodynamics for classical Hamiltonian systems.

We examine the non-extensive approach to the statistical mechanics of Hamiltonian systems with H = T +V, where T is the classical kinetic energy. Our analysis starts from the basics of the formalism by applying the standard variational method for maximizing the entropy subject to the average energy and normalization constraints. The analytical results show i) that the non-extensive thermodynamics formalism should be called into question to explain experimental results described by extended exponential distributions exhibiting long tails, i.e. q-exponentials with q >1, and ii) that in the thermodynamic limit the theory is only consistent in the range 0 q  1 where the distribution has finite support, thus implying that configurations with, e.g., energy above some limit have zero probability, which is at variance with the physics of systems in contact with a heat reservoir. We also discuss the (q-dependent) thermodynamic temperature and the generalized specific heat.

Recommended citation: James F. Lutsko and Jean Pierre Boon, "Questioning the validity of non-extensive thermodynamics for classical Hamiltonian systems.", EuroPhys. Lett., 95, 20006 (2011)
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