Newtonian dynamics from the principle of maximum caliber

DOI10.1007/S10701-014-9819-8zbMATH Open1302.70003arXiv1310.1382OpenAlexW3102418761MaRDI QIDQ474879FDOQ474879

Authors: J. Herrera, Sumit K. Garg 

Publication date: 25 November 2014

Published in: Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The foundations of Statistical Mechanics can be recovered almost in their entirety from the Principle of Maximum Entropy. In this work we show that its non-equilibrium generalization, the Principle of Maximum Caliber (Jaynes, 1980), when applied to the unknown trajectory followed by a particle, leads to Newton's second law under two quite intuitive assumptions (the expected square displacement in one step and the spatial probability distribution of the particle are known at all times). Our derivation explicitly highlights the role of mass as an emergent measure of the fluctuations in velocity (inertia) and the origin of potential energy as a manifestation of spatial correlations. According to our findings, the application of Newton's equations is not limited to mechanical systems, and therefore could be used in modelling ecological, financial and biological systems, among others.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.1382

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zbMATH Keywords

Newtonian mechanicsmaximum caliber

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Dynamical systems in classical and celestial mechanics (37N05) Axiomatics, foundations (70A05)

Cites Work

• Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Axiomatic derivation of the principle of maximum entropy and the principle of minimum cross-entropy
• Title not available (Why is that?)

Cited In (3)

• Hamiltonian formalism and path entropy maximization
• Predictive statistical mechanics and macroscopic time evolution: hydrodynamics and entropy production
• Inverse relationship between diffusion coefficient and mass for a free particle system: approach by using maximum caliber principle and Monte Carlo simulations

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