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Brazilian Journal of Physics

On the Nonequilibrium Statistical Operator and Classical Thermofield Dynamics

Lourival M. da Silva, Ademir Eugenio de Santana, J. D. M. Vianna

Published Dec 1, 1997• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A nonequilibrium statistical operator (NSO) is built for classical sistems using a field theory in classical phase space, which is but a classical version of the thermofield dynamics formalism. The approach developed here starts with a second-quantized version of this phase-space field theory. Then elements of symmetry are analysed and invariants of the theory are introduced. The local conservation laws are derived and used to make explicit NSO. Such a method is applied to derive the Fokker-Planck-Kramers equation.

DOI
10.1590/s0103-97331997000400025

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A nonequilibrium statistical operator (NSO) is built for classical sistems using a field theory in classical phase space, which is but a classical version of the thermofield dynamics formalism. The approach developed here starts with a second-quantized version of this phase-space field theory. Then elements of symmetry are analysed and invariants of the theory are introduced. The local conservation laws are derived and used to make explicit NSO. Such a method is applied to derive the Fokker-Planck-Kramers equation.
We describe the large applicability of the Nonequilibrium Statistical Operator Method (NSOM) for the study of dissipative dynamic systems far from equilibrium. It is shown that the NSOM can be encompassed by a unifying variational principle, which produces a large family of NSO that contains existing examples as particular cases. Further, we review the application of the NSOM for the construction of a nonlinear quantum theory of large scope, and for the generation of a response function theory, for far-from-equilibrium Hamiltonian systems. An accompanying non-equilibrium thermodynamic Green's function theory is briefly described. Also it is shown that the NSOM provides mechano-statistical foundations for phenomenological irreversible thermodynamics, and for the important question of stability of far-from-equilibrium steady states and the emergence of self-organized dissipative structures in condensed matter.
Abstract We develop a statistical field theory for classical Nambu dynamics by partially employing the quantum field-theory method. One of the unsolved problems in Nambu dynamics has been to extend it to interacting systems without violating a generalized canonical structure characterized by the presence of multiple Hamiltonians, which together govern the dynamics of time evolution on an equal footing through a Nambu bracket as an analog to the Poisson bracket of ordinary Hamiltonian dynamics with a single Hamiltonian. In the present paper, we propose to include interactions from the standpoint of classical statistical dynamics by formulating it as a field theory on Nambu’s generalized phase space in an operator formalism. We first construct a general framework for such a field theory and its probabilistic interpretation. Then, on the basis of this framework, we give an exactly solvable model of self-interactions in a many-body Nambu system treated as a closed dynamical system satisfying the H-theorem. It is shown that a generalized microcanonical ensemble and a generalized canonical ensemble characterized by many temperatures are reached dynamically as equilibrium states starting with certain classes of initial nonequilibrium states via a continuous Markov process, which lies beyond the usual framework based on the Liouville theorem. Compared with the usual classical statistical mechanics on the basis of standard Hamiltonian dynamics, some important new features associated with Nambu dynamics will emerge, with respect to the symmetries underlying the dynamics of the nonequilibrium as well as the equilibrium states and also to some conceptual properties, such as a formulation of a generalized Kubo–Martin–Schwinger-like condition characterizing the generalized canonical equilibrium states and the “relative” nature of the temperatures.
The method of the nonequilibrium statistical operator developed by D. N. Zubarev is employed to analyze and derive generalized transport and kinetic equations. The degrees of freedom in solids can often be represented as a few interacting subsystems (electrons, spins, phonons, nuclear spins, etc.). Perturbation of one subsystem may produce a nonequilibrium state which is then relaxed to an equilibrium state due to the interaction between particles or with a thermal bath. The generalized kinetic equations were derived for a system weakly coupled to a thermal bath to elucidate the nature of transport and relaxation processes. It was shown that the "collision term" had the same functional form as for the generalized kinetic equations for the system with small interactions among particles. The applicability of the general formalism to physically relevant situations is investigated. It is shown that some known generalized kinetic equations (e.g. kinetic equation for magnons, Peierls equation for phonons) naturally emerges within the NSO formalism. The relaxation of a small dynamic subsystem in contact with a thermal bath is considered on the basis of the derived equations. The Schrödinger-type equation for the average amplitude describing the energy shift and damping of a particle in a thermal bath and the coupled kinetic equation describing the dynamic and statistical aspects of the motion are derived and analyzed. The equations derived can help in the understanding of the origin of irreversible behavior in quantum phenomena.
The method of the nonequilibrium statistical operator developed by D. N. Zubarev is employed to analyze and derive generalized transport and kinetic equations. The degrees of freedom in solids can often be represented as a few interacting subsystems (electrons, spins, phonons, nuclear spins, etc.). Perturbation of one subsystem may produce a nonequilibrium state which is then relaxed to an equilibrium state due to the interaction between particles or with a thermal bath. The generalized kinetic equations were derived for a system weakly coupled to a thermal bath to elucidate the nature of transport and relaxation processes. It was shown that the "collision term" had the same functional form as for the generalized kinetic equations for the system with small interactions among particles. The applicability of the general formalism to physically relevant situations is investigated. It is shown that some known generalized kinetic equations (e.g. kinetic equation for magnons, Peierls equation for phonons) naturally emerges within the NSO formalism. The relaxation of a small dynamic subsystem in contact with a thermal bath is considered on the basis of the derived equations. The Schrödinger-type equation for the average amplitude describing the energy shift and damping of a particle in a thermal bath and the coupled kinetic equation describing the dynamic and statistical aspects of the motion are derived and analyzed. The equations derived can help in the understanding of the origin of irreversible behavior in quantum phenomena.
A formalism for quantum many-body systems is proposed through a semiclassical treatment in phase space, allowing us to establish stochastic thermodynamics incorporating quantum statistics. Specifically, we utilize a stochastic Fokker-Planck equation as the dynamics at the mesoscopic level. Here, the noise term characterizing the fluctuation of the flux density accounts for the finite-NNN effects arising from random collisions between the system and the reservoir. Accordingly, the stationary solution is a quasiequilibrium state in a canonical system. We define stochastic thermodynamic quantities based on the trajectories of the phase-space distribution. The conservation law of energy, the HHH theorem, and fluctuation theorems are therefore obtained. Our work sets an alternative formalism of quantum stochastic thermodynamics that is independent of the two-point measurement scheme. The numerous projective measurements of quantum systems are replaced by the sampling of the phase-space distribution, offering hope for experimental verifications in the future.
We explore whether quantum field theory can be understood as the statistical mechanics of a time-reversal-invariant stochastic generalization of Hamiltonian dynamics. The motivation for this project, started with this paper, is to assign sharp values to all observables and thereby avoid the quantum measurement problem. In classical mechanics, motion is deterministic and corresponds to an evolution of the phase space probability density according to Liouville's equation that is governed by first derivatives of the Hamiltonian in phase space. We derive a generalization of the Liouville equation with natural constraints -- namely, reduction to classical Hamiltonian dynamics as the stochasticity parameter ℏ↦0\hbar\mapsto0ℏ↦0, Fokker-Planck form for the probability density evolution, local Hamiltonian dependence, time-reversal invariance, energy conservation, and minimality -- which turns out to be a Fokker-Planck equation with a generalized diffusion matrix that is symmetric, traceless, and constructed from the Hessian of the Hamiltonian. We then show that the Schrödinger equation in the coherent-state phase-space formulation of certain bosonic QFTs has precisely this form, with the Husimi function playing the role of the phase space probability density. The question to what extent this equation can be interpreted in terms of objective stochastic field theories is discussed in a companion paper.