Author : Giovanni Gallavotti

Title: Fluctuation Theorem and Chaos

Abstract: The heat theorem (i.e. the second law of thermodynamics or the existence of entropy) is a manifestation of a general property of hamiltonian mechanics and of the ergodic Hypothesis. In nonequilibrium thermodynamics of stationary states the chaotic hypothesis plays a similar role: it allows a unique determination of the probability distribution (called {\rm SRB} distribution on phase space providing the time averages of the observables. It also implies an expression for a few averages concrete enough to derive consequences of symmetry properties like the fluctuation theorem or to formulate a theory of coarse graining unifying the foundations of equilibrium and of nonequilibrium.

Keywords: Statistical Mechanics, Nonequilibrium, Fluctuation Theorem, Chaotic Hypothesis

Giovanni Gallavotti,
Dipartimento di Fisica,
Universita` di Roma 1
Ple Moro 2, 00185, Roma, Italy
giovanni.gallavotti@roma1.infn.it