Dynamical mechanisms leading to equilibration in two-component gases.
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.
Laboratoire Paul Painlevé, CNRS, UFR de Mathématiques, Université Lille 1, Équipe-Projet Mephysto, INRIA Lille-Nord Europe, France.
Stephan
S
De Bièvre
Laboratory of Physical Properties, Technical University of Madrid, Avenida Complutense, s/n 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Carlos
C
Mejía-Monasterio
Department of Physics, Missouri University of Science & Technology, Rolla, Missouri 65409, USA.
Paul E
PE
Parris