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Thermalization
In physics, thermalisation is the process of physical bodies reaching thermal equilibrium through mutual interaction. In general the natural tendency of a system is towards a state of equipartition of energy and uniform temperature that maximizes the system's entropy. Thermalisation, thermal equilibrium, and temperature are therefore important fundamental concepts within statistical physics, statistical mechanics, and thermodynamics; all of which are a basis for many other specific fields of scientific understanding and engineering application. Examples of thermalisation include: * the achievement of equilibrium in a plasma. * the process undergone by high-energy neutrons as they lose energy by collision with a moderator. The hypothesis, foundational to most introductory textbooks treating quantum statistical mechanics, assumes that systems go to thermal equilibrium (thermalisation). The process of thermalisation erases local memory of the initial conditions. The eigenstate t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eigenstate Thermalisation Hypothesis
The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (or ETH) is a set of ideas which purports to explain when and why an isolated Quantum mechanics, quantum mechanical system can be accurately described using equilibrium statistical mechanics. In particular, it is devoted to understanding how systems which are initially prepared in far-from-equilibrium states can evolve in time to a state which appears to be in thermal equilibrium. The phrase "eigenstate thermalization" was first coined by Mark Srednicki in 1994, after similar ideas had been introduced by Josh Deutsch in 1991. The principal philosophy underlying the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis is that instead of explaining the ergodicity of a thermodynamic system through the mechanism of Chaos theory, dynamical chaos, as is done in classical mechanics, one should instead examine the properties of matrix (mathematics), matrix elements of observable quantities in individual stationary state, energy eigenstates of the system. Motivati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |