Microscopic time-reversibility and macroscopic irreversibility: Still a paradox

摘要

Microscopic time reversibility and macroscopic irreversibility are a paradoxical combination. This was first observed by J. Loschmidt in 1876 and was explained, for conservative systems, by L. Boltzmann the following year. Both these features are also present in modern simulations of classic many-body systems in steady nonequilibrium states. We illustrate them here for the simplest possible models, a continuous one-dimensional model of field-driven diffusion, the so-called driven Lorentz gas or Galton Board, and an ergodic time reversible dissipative map.