Eur. Phys. J. A (2006) 30: 293-302
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2005-10317-6

Dynamics and Thermodynamics with Nuclear Degrees of Freedom

Nuclear multifragmentation, its relation to general physics

A rich test ground of the fundamentals of statistical mechanics

¹ Fachbereich Physik, Hahn-Meitner Institute, Glienickerstr. 100, 14109, Berlin, Germany
² Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

^* e-mail: gross@hmi.de;

Received: 22 November 2005
Accepted: 5 June 2006
Published online: 2 November 2006

Abstract

Heat can flow from cold to hot at any phase separation even in macroscopic systems. Therefore also Lynden-Bell's famous gravo-thermal catastrophe must be reconsidered. In contrast to traditional canonical Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics this is correctly described only by microcanonical statistics. Systems studied in chemical thermodynamics (ChTh) by using canonical statistics consist of several homogeneous macroscopic phases. Evidently, macroscopic statistics as in chemistry cannot and should not be applied to non-extensive or inhomogeneous systems like nuclei or galaxies. Nuclei are small and inhomogeneous. Multifragmented nuclei are even more inhomogeneous and the fragments even smaller. Phase transitions of first order and especially phase separations therefore cannot be described by a (homogeneous) canonical ensemble. Taking this serious, fascinating perspectives open for statistical nuclear fragmentation as test ground for the basic principles of statistical mechanics, especially of phase transitions, without the use of the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, there is also a lot of similarity between the accessible phase space of fragmenting nuclei and inhomogeneous multistellar systems. This underlines the fundamental significance for statistical physics in general.