Canonical ensembles from chaos. II: Constrained dynamical systems (Q1191700)

We present dynamical equations of motion to compute thermodynamic properties of constrained dynamical systems. In particular, we examine systems that can be described by generators of Lie algebras. In this method, additional (noncompact) degrees of freedom are added to the compact phase space to mock the effects of a heat bath. The equations of motion in this extended space are ergodic, and canonical ensemble averages reduce to time averages over the classical trajectory. We compute explicitly the thermodynamic properties of several simple systems, in particular, Hamiltonians with \(SU(2)\) and \(SU(3)\) symmetry. For part I see the authors and \textit{W. Bauer}, ibid. 204, No. 1, 155-185 (1990; Zbl 0732.58017)].