SKM 2023 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Aktualisierungen | Downloads | Hilfe

DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 44: Poster: Statistical Physics

DY 44.1: Poster

Donnerstag, 30. März 2023, 13:00–16:00, P1

Understanding probability and irreversibility in the Mori-Zwanzig projection operator formalism — •Michael te Vrugt — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Center for Soft Nanoscience, Philosophisches Seminar, 48149 Münster, Germany

Explaining the emergence of stochastic irreversible macroscopic dynamics from time-reversible deterministic microscopic dynamics is one of the key problems in philosophy of physics. The Mori-Zwanzig (MZ) projection operator formalism, which is one of the most important methods of modern nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, allows for a systematic derivation of irreversible transport equations from reversible microdynamics and thus provides a useful framework for understanding this issue. However, discussions of the MZ formalism in philosophy of physics tend to focus on simple variants rather than on the more sophisticated ones used in modern physical research. In this work [1], I will close this gap by studying the problems of probability and irreversibility using the example of Grabert’s time-dependent projection operator formalism. This allows to better understand how general proposals for understanding probability in statistical mechanics, namely (a) quantum approaches and (b) almost-objective probabilities, can be accomodated in the MZ formalism.

[1] European Journal for Philosophy of Science 12, 41 (2022)