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Boltzmann’s Ergodic Hypothesis, a Conjecture for Centuries?

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Hard Ball Systems and the Lorentz Gas

Part of the book series: Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Sciences ((EMS,volume 101))

Abstract

An overview of the history of Ludwig Boltzmann’s more than one hundred year old ergodic hypothesis is given. The existing main results, the majority of which is connected with the theory of billiards, are surveyed, and some perspectives of the theory and interesting and realistic problems are also mentioned.

Lecture presented on International Symposium in Honor of Boltzmann’s 150th Birthday, February 23–26 1994, Vienna.

Reproduced from Studia Scientiarum Mathematicarum Hungarorum 31 (1996), 266–322, with kind permission of Akadémia Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary.

Research supported by the Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research, grant No. 1902

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  1. Institute of Mathematics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 91, 1521, Budapest, Hungary

    D. Szász

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  1. Institute of Mathematics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 91, 1521, Budapest, Hungary

    D. Szász

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Szász, D. (2000). Boltzmann’s Ergodic Hypothesis, a Conjecture for Centuries?. In: Szász, D. (eds) Hard Ball Systems and the Lorentz Gas. Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Sciences, vol 101. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04062-1_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04062-1_14

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