TransWikia.com

Time derivative of Gibbs entropy (the paradox of the constant fine-grained entropy)

Physics Asked on April 13, 2021

In the context of classical systems, the fine-grained (or Gibbs) entropy is defined as the functional:

$S_G(t)=-kint_{Gamma_t}dqdp rho(p,q,t)ln[rho(p,q,t)]$ (1)

I’ve been told (Wehrl and J. van Lith) that the Liouville’s theorem ensures that this quantity is constant under an evolution governed by Hamilton’s equation. I can prove this statement by using the time evolution as a change of variables in (1), then using that the Jacobian of this change of variables is 1 (one of the forms of Liouville’s theorem) :

$S_G(0)=-kint_{Gamma_0}dq_0dp_0 rho(p_0,q_0,0)ln[rho(p_0,q_0,0)]=-kint_{Gamma_t}dqdp {J(frac{partial q_0,p_0}{partial q,p})}rho(p,q,t)ln[rho(p,q,t)]=S_G(t)$

My doubts:

  1. Is the proof that I suggest correct?

  2. I am trying to prove it by deriving in (1) but I am not successful:

    $frac{d S_G(t)}{dt}=-kint_{Gamma_t}dqdp partial_t rho(p,q,t)(1+ln[rho(p,q,t)])$

    which is trivially equal to zero just in the case of equilibrium ($partial_t rho(p,q,t)=0$). Any idea on why this is not working?

(This is interesting because it implies that either the Hamiltonian evolution or the Gibbs entropy cannot describe a non-equilibrium evolution in which, according to the second law, the thermodynamic entropy should increase.)

One Answer

So I found an answer to my question.

1.- As far as I know, is indeed correct and it would work for any functional of the density $F(rho)$.

2.- I just had to make use of the Liouville's theorem: $partial_t rho = -{rho,H }$ and work out the expression:

$frac{dS_G(t)}{dt}= int_{Gamma_t}dpdq partial_t rho(p,q;t) ln(erho(p,q;t))= -int_{Gamma_t}dpdq {rho,H } ln(erho)=-int_{Gamma_t}dpdq ln(erho) sum^{q,p} (partial_prhopartial_q H-partial_qrhopartial_p H)$

Integrating by parts: $int_{Gamma_t}dpdq ln(erho) partial_prhopartial_q H=int_{Gamma_t}dq rholnrho partial_q H |^{prightarrow+infty}_{prightarrow-infty}-int_{Gamma_t}dpdq rholnrho partial_{q,p}H$

So

$frac{dS_G(t)}{dt}=int_{Gamma_t}dp rholnrho partial_p H |^{qrightarrow+infty}_{qrightarrow-infty}-int_{Gamma_t}dq rholnrho partial_q H |^{prightarrow+infty}_{prightarrow-infty}$

In order to ensure convergence: $lim_{|q|rightarrow + infty} rho=frac{1}{q^{1+alpha}}$ and $lim_{|p|rightarrow + infty}rho=frac{1}{p^{1+alpha}}$

We can assume : $lim_{qrightarrowinfty}partial_q H=0$ and $partial_p H sim p$

Concluding $frac{dS_G(t)}{dt}=0$

Correct answer by Javi on April 13, 2021

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP