Validity and Failure of the Boltzmann Weight

TL;DR

This paper explores the validity of Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics in a long-range interacting XY model, showing that long-range interactions lead to non-Maxwellian distributions and challenge traditional thermodynamic assumptions.

Contribution

It demonstrates how long-range interactions in the XY model produce non-Boltzmannian distributions, highlighting the limits of classical statistical mechanics in such systems.

Findings

Maxwellian distributions in short-range regime

Emergence of q-Gaussians in long-range regime

Long tails in energy distributions for long-range interactions

Abstract

The dynamics and thermostatistics of a classical inertial XY model, characterized by long-range interactions, are investigated on $d$-dimensional lattices ($d=1,2,$ and 3), through molecular dynamics. The interactions between rotators decay with the distance $r_{ij}$ like~$1/r_{ij}^{\alpha}$ ($\alpha \geq 0$), where $\alpha\to\infty$ and $\alpha=0$ respectively correspond to the nearest-neighbor and infinite-range interactions. We verify that the momenta probability distributions are Maxwellians in the short-range regime, whereas $q$-Gaussians emerge in the long-range regime. Moreover, in this latter regime, the individual energy probability distributions are characterized by long tails, corresponding to $q$-exponential functions. The present investigation strongly indicates that, in the long-range regime, central properties fall out of the scope of Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics, depending on $d$ and $\alpha$ through the ratio $\alpha/d$.