A fundamental challenge is to understand nonequilibrium statistical mechanics starting from microscopic chaos in the equations of motion of a many-particle system. In this thesis we summarize recent theoretical advances along these lines. We focus on two different approaches to nonequilibrium transport: One considers Hamiltonian dynamical systems under nonequilibrium boundary conditions, another one suggests a non-Hamiltonian approach to nonequilibrium situations created by external electric fields and by temperature or velocity gradients. A surprising result related to the former approach is that in simple low-dimensional periodic models the deterministic transport coefficients are typically fractal functions of control parameters. These fractal transport coefficients yield the first central theme of this thesis. We exemplify this phenomenon by deterministic diffusion in a simple chaotic map. We then construct an arsenal of analytical and numerical methods for computing further transport coefficients such as electrical conductivities andchemical reaction rates. These methods are applied to hierarchies of chaotic dynamical systems that are successively getting more complex, starting from abstract one-dimensional maps generalizing a simple random walk on the line up to particle billiards that should be directly accessible in experiments. In all cases, the resulting transport coefficients turn out to be either strictly fractal, or at least to be profoundly irregular. The impact of random perturbations on these quantities is also investigated. We furthermore provide some access roads towards a physical understanding of these fractalities. The second central theme is formed by a critical assessment of the non-Hamiltonian approach to nonequilibrium transport. Here we consider situations where the nonequilibrium constraints pump energy into a system, hence there must be some thermal reservoir that prevents the system from heating up. For this purpose a deterministic and time-reversible modeling of thermal reservoirs was proposed in form of Gaussian and Nose-Hoover thermostats. This approach yielded simple relations between fundamental quantities of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and of dynamical systems theory. Our goal is to critically assesses the universality of these results. As a vehicle of demonstration we employ the driven periodic Lorentz gas, a toy model for the classical dynamics of an electron in a metal under application of an electric field. Applying different types of thermal reservoirs to this system we compare the resulting nonequilibrium steady states with each other. Along the same lines we discuss an interacting many-particle system under shear and heat. Finally, we outline an unexpected relationship between deterministic thermostats and active Brownian particles modeling biophysical cell motility.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:24458 |
| Date | 28 June 2004 |
| Creators | Klages, Rainer |
| Contributors | Fulde, Peter, Bahr, Ute, Nicolis, Gregoire, Pikovsky, Arkadi |
| Publisher | Technische Universität Dresden |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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