Ergodic Systems / Theory  

In General > s.a. description of chaos; irreversibility.
* Ergodic system: One for which the trajectory of almost every point in phase space winds densely around the energy shell, so trajectories fill the available phase space (but not necessarily chaotically), and time averages of observables equal averages over the energy shell.
* Physical idea: For a system in (microcanonical) equilibrium, time and ensemble averages of physical quantities can be treated as equivalent if we assume that the system explores the accessible part of phase space, with the fraction of time spent near each point being proportional to the value of the distribution function there (ergodic hypothesis); Ergodic theory studies the validity of the hypothesis.
$ Def: Formally, ergodicity is a property of the action of a group G of transformations on a space X (with measure, topology, or smoothness preserved); An ergodic system is a dynamical system (X, μ, φ) such that A = φ(A) implies μ(A) = 0 or 1.
* Boltzmann-Sinai ergodic hypothesis: A gas of hard balls is ergodic; Proved in different stages (Sinai 1972, Bunimovich & Sinai 1973, Sinai & Chernov 1987, ...), and now known to be true for any number of balls in any number of dimensions D ≥ 2.
* Local Ergodic Theorem: (also known as the Fundamental Theorem) A result giving sufficient conditions under which a phase point has an open neighborhood that belongs (mod 0) to one ergodic component; It is a key ingredient of many proofs of ergodicity for billiards and, more generally, for smooth hyperbolic maps with singularities, but its proof relies upon a delicate assumption (the Chernov-Sinai Ansatz), which is difficult to check for some physically relevant models.
* Use in statistical mechanics: It provides a link between thermodynamic observables and microcanonical probabilities; The ergodic theorem demonstrates the equality of microcanonical phase averages and infinite time averages for some systems, and one argues that actual measurements of thermodynamic quantities yield time averaged quantities, since measurements take a long time; The combination of these two points is held to be an explanation of why calculating microcanonical phase averages is a successful algorithm for predicting the values of thermodynamic observables; It is also well known that this account is problematic.
@ General references: Billingsley 65; Arnold & Avez 67; Lebowitz & Penrose PT(73)feb; Ornstein 74; Sinai 76; Cornfeld et al 82; Walters 82; Sinai 94; Kalikow & McCutcheon 10; Einsiedler & Ward 11 [III]; Gaveau & Schulman a1401 [ergodicity is not reasonable and not needed]; Viana & Oliveira 16; Kerr & Li 16.
@ Mathematical: Pugh & Shub BAMS(04) [stable ergodicity]; Bosco et al JSP(10) [exponential rate of convergence in the ergodic theorem].
@ Boltzmann-Sinai ergodic hypothesis: Lee PhyA(06); Simányi a1007 [in full generality].
@ And statistical mechanics: Earman & Rédei BJPS(96); van Lith SHPMP(01); > s.a. equilibrium.
@ Conceptual: Frigg & Werndl PhSc(11)#4-a1310 [ε-ergodicity and the approach to equilibrium].
> Related topics: see equilibrium statistical mechanics [ε-ergodicity]; Mixing System; Recurrence.

Specific Types of Systems > s.a. semiclassical quantum mechanics; stochastic processes.
* Example: X = S1, φ(x) = exp(2πi α)x, with α irrational, μ = Lebesgue measure.
@ Physics examples: Bolte et al AP(01) [spinning particles]; Botelho a0912 [non-linear wave propagation]; Chernov & Simányi JSP(10) [proof of the Local Ergodic Theorem for two-dimensional billiards]; Birrell et al SP&A(12)-a1105 [transition from ergodic to explosive behavior]; > s.a. turbulence.
@ Lack of ergodicity: Borgonovi et al JSP(04) [classically chaotic spin chain]; Rebenshtok & Barkai JSP(08) [weakly non-ergodic]; Wang et al PRE(14)-a1309 [two elastic hard-point masses in 1D, with generic mass ratio]; Šuntajs et al a2004 [ergodicity breaking transition in spin chain].
@ Ergodic hierarchy: Berkovitz et al SHPMP(06) [randomness, and chaos]; Castagnino & Gómez PhyA(13)-a1301 [quantum ergodic hierarchy, Kolmogorov and Bernoulli systems]; Gómez & Portesi AIP(17)-a1607 [information geometric extension, entropic dynamics].
@ Non-equilibrium systems: Wang et al PRL(07) [shear flow with different time and ensemble averages]; Magdziarz & Weron AP(11) [anomalous diffusion].
@ Other applications: Cowan AAP(78) [statistical geometry].

In Quantum Theory > s.a. localization [ergodicity breakdown in many-body systems]; states in statistical mechanics.
@ General references: von Neumann ZP(29)-a1003 [proof of ergodic theorem in quantum mechanics]; Farquhar & Landsberg PRS(57); Matsuno JMP(75); Kümmerer & Maassen JPA(04) [pathwise ergodic theorem for quantum trajectories]; Narnhofer RPMP(05) [von Neumann, type II and III algebras]; Zelditch mp/05-en [and mixing]; Schubert AHP(06)mp/05 [semiclassical behaviour of eigenfunctions]; Barnett CPAM(06)mp/05 [rate of quantum ergodicity]; Castagnino & Lombardi PhyA(09) [general framework]; Zelditch a0911-ln [survey]; Bauer & Mello JPA-a1312; Ozorio de Almeida JPA(14)-a1403 [negativity witness]; Zambrano et al PRE(15)-a1502 [local conjecture]; Lopes & Sebastiani a1507 [simplified proof of von Neumann's Quantum Ergodic Theorem]; Zhang et al PRE(16)-a1601 [and mixing]; Ho & Radičević IJMPA(18)-a1701 [graph-based approach]; Movassagh & Schenker a2004 [theory of ergodic quantum processes]; Dyatlov a2103 [Shnirelman's Quantum Ergodicity Theorem].
@ Special systems: Asadi et al JPA(15)-a1507; Gherardini QST(17)-a1604 [randomly perturbed quantum systems].

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