Time reversibility, computer simulation, algorithms, chaos

A small army of physicists, chemists, mathematicians, and engineers has joined forces to attack a classic problem, the “reversibility paradox”, with moderntools. This book describes their work from the perspective of computer simulation, emphasizing the authors' approach to the problem of understanding the compatibility, and even inevitability, of the irreversible second law of thermodynamics with an underlying time-reversible mechanics. Computer simulation has made it possible to probe reversibility from a variety of directions and “chaos theory” or “nonlinear dynamics” has supplied a useful vocabulary and a set of concepts, which allow a fuller explanation of irreversibility than that available to Boltzmann or to Green, Kubo and Onsager. Clear illustration of concepts is emphasized throughout, and reinforced with a glossary of technical termsfrom the specialized fields which have been combined here to focus on a common theme. The book begins with a discussion, contrasting the idealized reversibility of basic physics against the pragmatic irreversibility of real life. Computer models, and simulation, are next discussed and illustrated. Simulations provide the means to assimilate concepts through worked-out examples. State-of-the-art analyses, from the point of view of dynamical systems, are applied tomany-body examples from nonequilibrium molecular dynamics and to chaotic irreversible flows from finite-difference, finite-element, and particle-based continuum simulations. Two necessary concepts from dynamical-systems theory — fractals and Lyapunov instability — are fundamental to the approach. Undergraduate-level physics, calculus, and ordinary differential equations are sufficient background for a full appreciation of this book, which is intended for advancedundergraduates, graduates, and research workers. The generous assortment of examples worked out in the text will stimulate readers to explore the rich and fruitful field of study which links fundamental reversible laws of physics to the irreversibility surrounding us all. This expanded edition stresses and illustrates computer algorithms with many new worked-out examples, and includes considerable new material on shockwaves, Lyapunov instability and fluctuations. INDICE: Time Reversibility, Computer Simulation, Algorithms, Chaos; Time-Reversibility in Physics and Computation; Gibbs' Statistical Mechanics; Irreversibility in Real Life; Microscopic Computer Simulation; Shockwaves Revisited; Macroscopic Computer Simulation; Chaos, Lyapunov Instability, Fractals; Resolving the Reversibility Paradox; Afterword — a Research Perspective.

• ISBN: 978-981-4383-16-5
• Editorial: World Scientific
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 428
• Fecha Publicación: 11/08/2012
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés