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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physics

Missouri University of Science and Technology

2016

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Dynamical Mechanisms Leading To Equilibration In Two-Component Gases, Stephan De Bievre, Carlos Mejia-Monasterio, Paul Ernest Parris May 2016

Dynamical Mechanisms Leading To Equilibration In Two-Component Gases, Stephan De Bievre, Carlos Mejia-Monasterio, Paul Ernest Parris

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Demonstrating how microscopic dynamics cause large systems to approach thermal equilibrium remains an elusive, longstanding, and actively pursued goal of statistical mechanics. We identify here a dynamical mechanism for thermalization in a general class of two-component dynamical Lorentz gases and prove that each component, even when maintained in a nonequilibrium state itself, can drive the other to a thermal state with a well-defined effective temperature.


Spatio-Temporal Generalization Of The Harris Criterion And Its Application To Diffusive Disorder, Thomas Vojta, Ronald Dickman Mar 2016

Spatio-Temporal Generalization Of The Harris Criterion And Its Application To Diffusive Disorder, Thomas Vojta, Ronald Dickman

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We investigate how a clean continuous phase transition is affected by spatiotemporal disorder, i.e., by an external perturbation that fluctuates in both space and time. We derive a generalization of the Harris criterion for the stability of the clean critical behavior in terms of the space-time correlation function of the external perturbation. As an application, we consider diffusive disorder, i.e., an external perturbation governed by diffusive dynamics, and its effects on a variety of equilibrium and nonequilibrium critical points. We also discuss the relation between diffusive disorder and diffusive dynamical degrees of freedom in the example of model C of …