- Generalized Helmholtz theorem
The generalized Helmholtz theorem is the multi-dimensional generalization of the Helmholtz theorem which is valid only in one dimension. The generalized Helmholtz theorem reads as follows.
Let: :be the
canonical coordinates of a "s"-dimensionalHamiltonian system , and let:
be the
Hamiltonian function, where:,
is the
kinetic energy and:
is the
potential energy which depends on a parameter .Let the hyper-surfaces of constant energy in the 2"s"-dimensional phase space of the system be metrically indecomposable and let denote time average. Define the quantities , , , , as follows::,
:,
:,
:
Then:
:
Remarks
The thesis of this theorem of
classical mechanics reads exactly as theheat theorem ofthermodynamics . This fact shows that thermodynamic-like relations exist between certain mechanical quantities in multidimensionalergodic systems. This in turn allows to define the "thermodynamic state" of a multi-dimensional ergodic mechanical system, without the requirement that the system be composed of a large number of degrees of freedom. In particular thetemperature is given by twice the time average of the kinetic energy per degree of freedom, and theentropy by the logarithm of the phase space volume enclosed by the constant energy surface (i.e. the so-calledvolume entropy .References
Further reading
*Helmholtz, H., von (1884a). Principien der Statik monocyklischer Systeme. "Borchardt-Crelle’s Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik", 97, 111–140 (also in Wiedemann G. (Ed.) (1895) Wissenschafltliche Abhandlungen. Vol. 3 (pp. 142–162, 179–202). Leipzig: Johann Ambrosious Barth).
*Helmholtz, H., von (1884b). Studien zur Statik monocyklischer Systeme. "Sitzungsberichte der Kö niglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin", I, 159–177 (also in Wiedemann G. (Ed.) (1895) Wissenschafltliche Abhandlungen. Vol. 3 (pp. 163–178). Leipzig: Johann Ambrosious Barth).
*Boltzmann, L. (1884). Über die Eigenschaften monocyklischer und anderer damit verwandter Systeme."Crelles Journal", 98: 68–94 (also in Boltzmann, L. (1909). Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen (Vol. 3,pp. 122–152), F. Hasenöhrl (Ed.). Leipzig. Reissued New York: Chelsea, 1969).
*Khinchin, A. I. (1949). "Mathematical foundations of statistical mechanics". New York: Dover.
*Gallavotti, G. (1999). "Statistical mechanics: A short treatise". Berlin: Springer.
*Campisi, M. (2005) "On the mechanical foundations of thermodynamics: The generalized Helmholtz theorem" Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 36: 275–290
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.