Microstates : Do the outliers worth

TL;DR

This paper investigates the role of rare microstates with entropy-decreasing fluctuations in gas systems, exploring their dynamics and stability through simulations, and their implications for the second law of thermodynamics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence and impact of rare microstates with local entropy decreases and shows how gravity-like forces influence their persistence and stability.

Findings

Rare events follow a Pareto distribution.

Local entropy can temporarily decrease during rare events.

Gravity-like attraction stabilizes low-entropy microstates.

Abstract

This note addresses the relevance of rare events in system dynamics, inspired by Jill North reflections on the origin of the arrow of time in thermodynamics. After identifying the existence of rare events, characterized by a Pareto distribution, within a simple gas particle simulation, we investigate their impact on entropy evolution. These rare events are associated with microstates that locally decrease entropy, in contrast to the overall entropy increase observed in the bulk of the system. We present numerical simulations of gas particles, both without and with a gravity-like attractive force, to explore the fate of these rare events. Our results show that, while rare events can transiently generate local decreases in entropy, global entropy may continue to increase in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics. The introduction of gravity-like attraction stabilizes these low-entropy configurations, allowing them to persist longer. This study highlights the interplay between rare statistical fluctuations and macroscopic thermodynamic behavior, providing new insights into the emergence and stability of order in complex systems.