Thermodynamic determination of the shift factor

The methods of the thermodynamics of nonequilibrium processes are used to examine the creep stain-relaxation time; a transition is made from the relaxation time of the degree of advancement of the relaxation process to the strain-relaxation time. Expressions for the temperature and stress shift factors containing experimentally measurable quantities are found starting from the strain-relaxation time.     

Statistical mechanics of relaxation processes in alternating fields

Using the nonequilibrium statistical operator method and the projection technique, we derive the system of exact relaxation equations for a quantum system interacting with an alternating external field. These equations hold in the case where some of the basic dynamical variables describing a nonequilibrium state depend explicitly on time. We obtain the exact expression for the entropy production in an alternating external field. __________ Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 154, No. 1, pp. 102–112, January, 2008.     

A simple model of the evolution of a dust medium

A simple model is proposed that describes the kinetics of a dust medium and reproduces some observed nonequilibrium processes that lead to the formation of planetary rings, galaxies, and large-scale fold-type structures in space. The stable formation of typical galactic structures is attributed to their relaxation to stationary dissipative attractors.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 103, No. 1, pp. 161–169, April, 1995.     

TVD scheme for stiff problems of wave dynamics of heterogeneous media of nonhyperbolic nonconservative type

A finite-difference TVD scheme is presented for problems in nonequilibrium wave dynamics of heterogeneous media with different velocities and temperatures but with identical pressures of the phases. A nonlinear form of artificial viscosity depending on the phase relaxation time is proposed. The computed solutions are compared with exact self-similar ones for an equilibrium heterogeneous medium. The performance of the scheme is demonstrated by numerical simulation with varying particle diameters, grid sizes, and particle concentrations. It is shown that the scheme is efficient in terms of Fletcher’s criterion as applied to stiff problems.     

Kinetic Equations for Describing the Liquid-Glass Transition in Polymers

We present a theoretical approach based on nonequilibrium thermodynamics and used to describe the kinetics of the transition from the liquid to the glassy state (glass transition). In the framework of this approach, we construct kinetic equations describing the time and temperature evolution of the structural parameter. We discuss modifications of the equations required for taking the nonexponential, nonlinear character of the relaxation in the vitrification region into account. To describe the formation of polymer glasses, we present modified expressions for the system relaxation time. We compare the obtained results with experimental data, measurements of the polystyrene glass transition for different cooling rates using the method of differential scanning calorimetry. We discuss prospects for developing a method for describing the polymer glass transition.     

Nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics of channeled particles: Resonance transitions and dechanneling

An elementary act of dechanneling includes diffusion of particles in the space of transverse energies and a resonance transition that occurs after a particle reaches the channeling-regime potential level. The dechanneling rate coefficient is defined using equations of nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics. Physical quantities including the resonance transition matrix element, single-phonon and electron scattering relaxation rates, and the transverse quasi-temperature function related to the difference between the thermodynamic parameters of fast particles and the thermostat determining the dechanneling rate coefficient are expressed in terms of the basic parameters of the theory. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika. Vol. 116, No. 1, pp. 146–160, July, 1998.     

Ultrametricity of the state space in glasses

We review the results related to the ultrametricity notion in glasses. We present the proof of the ultrametricity of the replica space for an arbitrary spin glass model with reflection symmetry. We solve the problem of describing the dynamics of a system with an ultrametric state space using the Keldysh functional method for nonequilibrium dynamics in which the quasinonergodicity of the system is taken into account by introducing a hierarchical spectrum of relaxation times.     

Statistical hydrodynamics of magnetic fluids. I. the nonequilibrium statistical operator method

The Zubarev nonequilibrium statistical operator is used to describe the generalized hydrodynamic state of a magnetic fluid in an external magnetic field. The magnetic fluid is modeled with “liquid-state” and “magnetic” subsystems described using the classical and quantum statistics methods respectively. Equations of the generalized statistical hydrodynamics for a magnetic fluid in a nonhomogeneous external magnetic field with the Heisenberg spin interaction are derived for “liquid-state” and “magnetic” subsystems characterized by different nonequilibrium temperatures. These equations can be used to describe both the weakly and strongly nonequilibrium states. Some limiting cases are analyzed in which the variables of one of the subsystems can be formally neglected. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika. Vol. 115, No. 1, pp. 132–153, April, 1998.     

Spatially homogeneous relaxation of CO molecules with resonant <Emphasis Type="Italic">VE</Emphasis> transitions

In this paper, we study vibrational relaxation of CO molecules with excited electronic states. We consider three electronic terms and account for VV exchanges of vibrational energy within each electronic term, VT transitions of vibrational energy into a translational one, and VE exchange of vibrational energy between electronic terms. The initial vibrational state of the gas is strongly nonequilibrium. The effect of VE exchange on the vibrational relaxation of CO molecules is estimated for different kinds of initial vibrational distributions, in particular, the Treanor and Gordiets ones generalized for gases with electronically excited states. The set of equations of state-to-state vibrational kinetics, together with the gas dynamic equations, is solved numerically in the zero-order approximation of the Chapman–Enskog method for the case of spatially homogeneous relaxation. The following results are obtained: neglecting VE exchanges leads to an incorrect assessment of the number density for each electronic level; however, the error is small for the ground electronic state. It is shown that VE exchanges qualitatively affect the time dependence of the vibrational temperature.     

An internal-variable theory of thermo-viscoelastic constitutive relations at finite strain

Based on the nonequilibrium thermodynamic theory, a new thermo-viscoelastic relation at finite strain is proposed. Under the assumption that the specific heat at a fixed strain and fixed internal variables can be regarded as a constant, a new expression for the free energy which decouples the mechanical and the thermal effects is derived. Through an analysis of the mesoscopic deformation mechanism of solid polymers, a set of internal variables is introduced, and an internal-variable constitutive theory in thermo-viscoelasticity at finite strain is formulated. An explicit expression of a thermoviscoelastic constitutive relation is obtained for solid polymers in the case where their molecular network has a randomly oriented distribution function at reference configuration. Moreover, the relationship between the relaxation time and the temperature is also discussed. The viscoelastic constitutive theory proposed in reference is only a linear approximation of the present theory.     

On Polymer Expansion for Gibbsian States of Nonequilibrium Systems of Interacting Brownian Oscillators

The convergence of polymer cluster expansions for correlation functions of general Gibbs oscillator-type systems and related nonequilibrium systems of Brownian oscillators is established. The initial states for the latter are Gibbsian. It is proved that the sequence of the constructed correlation functions of the nonequilibrium system is a generalized solution of a diffusion BBGKY-type hierarchy.     

On fundamental equation of statistical physics (II)

Some derivations based on the anomalous Langevin equation in Liouville space (i.e. Γ space) or its equivalent Liouville diffusion equation of time-reversal asymmetry are presented. The time rate of change, the balance equation, the entropy flow, the entropy production and the law of entropy increase of Gibbs nonequilibriurn entropy and Boltzmann nonequilibrium entropy are rigorously derived and presented here. Furthermore, a nonlinear evolution equation of Gibbs nonequilibrium entropy density and Boltzmann nonequilibrium entropy density is first derived. The evolution equation shows that the change of nonequilibrium entropy density originates from not only drift, but also typical diffusion and inherent source production. Contrary to conventional knowledge, the entropy production density σ?0 everywhere for all the inbomogeneous systems far from equilibrium cannot be proved. Conversely, σ may be negative in some local space of such systems.     

Problem with nonequilibrium boundary conditions in the kinetic theory of gases

The Boltzmann kinetic equation is considered in a new formulation with nonequilibrium distribution functions on free boundaries, which makes it possible to simulate nonequilibrium superand subsonic flows. Transport processes for such flows are analyzed. The possibility of anomalous transport is determined, in which case the heat flux, temperature gradient, and the corresponding components of the nonequilibrium stress tensor and the velocity gradient have the same sign.     

Noise-induced effects in nonlinear relaxation of condensed matter systems

Noise-induced phenomena characterise the nonlinear relaxation of nonequilibrium physical systems towards equilibrium states. Often, this relaxation process proceeds through metastable states and the noise can give rise to resonant phenomena with an enhancement of lifetime of these states or some coherent state of the condensed matter system considered. In this paper three noise induced phenomena, namely the noise enhanced stability, the stochastic resonant activation and the noise-induced coherence of electron spin, are reviewed in the nonlinear relaxation dynamics of three different systems of condensed matter: (i) a long-overlap Josephson junction (JJ) subject to thermal fluctuations and non-Gaussian, Lévy distributed, noise sources; (ii) a graphene-based Josephson junction subject to thermal fluctuations; (iii) electrons in a n-type GaAs crystal driven by a fluctuating electric field. In the first system, we focus on the switching events from the superconducting metastable state to the resistive state, by solving the perturbed stochastic sine-Gordon equation. Nonmonotonic behaviours of the mean switching time versus the noise intensity, frequency of the external driving, and length of the junction are obtained. Moreover, the influence of the noise induced solitons on the mean switching time behaviour is shown. In the second system, noise induced phenomena are observed, such as noise enhanced stability (NES) and stochastic resonant activation (SRA). In the third system, the spin polarised transport in GaAs is explored in two different scenarios, i.e. in the presence of Gaussian correlated fluctuations or symmetric dichotomous noise. Numerical results indicate an increase of the electron spin lifetime by rising the strength of the random fluctuating component. Furthermore, our findings for the electron spin depolarization time as a function of the noise correlation time point out (i) a non-monotonic behaviour with a maximum in the case of Gaussian correlated fluctuations, (ii) an increase up to a plateau in the case of dichotomous noise. The noise enhances the coherence of the spin relaxation process.     

Gibbs equation in the nonlinear nonequilibrium thermodynamics of dilute nonviscous gases

This paper deals with the derivation of the Gibbs equation for a nonviscous gas in the presence of heat flux. The analysis aims to shed some light on the physical interpretation of thermodynamic potentials far from equilibrium. Two different definitions for the chemical potential and thermodynamic pressure far from equilibrium are introduced: nonequilibrium chemical potential and nonequilibrium thermodynamic pressure at constant heat flux q and nonequilibrium chemical potential and nonequilibrium thermodynamic pressure at constant J = Vq, where V is the specific volume.     

Nonequilibrium Statistical Operator Method and Generalized Kinetic Equations

We consider some principal problems of nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics in the framework of the Zubarev nonequilibrium statistical operator approach. We present a brief comparative analysis of some approaches to describing irreversible processes based on the concept of nonequilibrium Gibbs ensembles and their applicability to describing nonequilibrium processes. We discuss the derivation of generalized kinetic equations for a system in a heat bath. We obtain and analyze a damped Schrödinger-type equation for a dynamical system in a heat bath. We study the dynamical behavior of a particle in a medium taking the dissipation effects into account. We consider the scattering problem for neutrons in a nonequilibrium medium and derive a generalized Van Hove formula. We show that the nonequilibrium statistical operator method is an effective, convenient tool for describing irreversible processes in condensed matter.