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Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics
Kazumasa Takeuchi, Associate Professor, Department of Physics
| Shozo Sudo, Makoto Oka, Takahiro Sagawa |
| Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics |
| Kyoritsu Shuppan (2022) |
| ISBN 978-4-3200354-85 |
Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, which are the subject of our lectures, are mainly concerned with the thermal equilibrium state and its vicinity. However, non-equilibrium states far from equilibrium can be found everywhere in nature, and phenomena that are essentially non-equilibrium, such as life, are not uncommon. The attempt to deal with such non-equilibrium states in thermo-statistical mechanics is a cutting-edge topic that is still being actively studied. Among the various approaches, the development of "stochastic thermodynamics," which can describe non-equilibrium processes, and the birth of "information thermodynamics," which incorporates measurement and manipulation into thermodynamics as information theory, are representative recent developments in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.
This book is a definitive introduction to such non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. The author, Takahiro Sagawa, is a leader in the construction of information thermodynamics and has been active in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. The book is characterized by its clear and straightforward presentation. The essence of the various relations collectively called "fluctuation theorems," the performance of heat engines, trade-off relations, recent topics such as thermodynamic uncertainty relations, and the twists and turns and their resolution concerning Maxwell's daemons are organized based on the latest understanding and explained in a very simple manner with concrete examples.
The contents of this book have been developed in various fields of theory and experiment, and related research is being conducted in the Faculty of Science in the laboratories of Masahito Ueda, Sousuke Ito, Yasushi Okada, and others. Non-equilibrium phenomena cover a wide range of topics, and there are many more laboratories potentially involved. This book is uniquely suited to help even undergraduate students dive into the state-of-the-art of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.
Published in Faculty of Science News, July 2022