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Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

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Dartmouth Scholarship

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2002

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physics

Adiabatic Invariance With First Integrals Of Motion, Artur D. Adib Oct 2002

Adiabatic Invariance With First Integrals Of Motion, Artur D. Adib

Dartmouth Scholarship

The construction of a microthermodynamic formalism for isolated systems based on the concept of adiabatic invariance is an old but seldom appreciated effort in the literature, dating back at least to P. Hertz [Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 33, 225 (1910)]. An apparently independent extension of such formalism for systems bearing additional first integrals of motion was recently proposed by Hans H. Rugh [Phys. Rev. E 64, 055101 (2001)], establishing the concept of adiabatic invariance even in such singular cases. After some remarks in connection with the formalism pioneered by Hertz, it will be suggested that such an extension can …


Nonequilibrium Precursor Model For The Onset Of Percolation In A Two-Phase System, Marcelo Gleiser, Rafael C. Howell, Rudnei O. Ramos Feb 2002

Nonequilibrium Precursor Model For The Onset Of Percolation In A Two-Phase System, Marcelo Gleiser, Rafael C. Howell, Rudnei O. Ramos

Dartmouth Scholarship

Using a Boltzmann-like equation, we investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of nonperturbative fluctuations within the context of Ginzburg-Landau models. As an illustration, we examine how a two-phase system initially prepared in a homogeneous, low-temperature phase becomes populated by precursors of the opposite phase as the temperature is increased. We compute the critical value of the order parameter for the onset of percolation, which signals the breakdown of the conventional dilute gas approximation.