Thermodynamic Fluctuations and Statistical Physics

Main articles: Statistical mechanics, thermal fluctuations, and statistical physics Albert Einstein's first paper[95] submitted in 1900 to Annalen der Physik was on capillary attraction. It was published in 1901 with the title "Folgerungen aus den Capillaritätserscheinungen", which translates as "Conclusions from the capillarity phenomena".

Introduction to Statistical Mechanics

It is generally accepted that, around the turn of the century, GIBBS and EINSTEIN independently developed two equivalent formulations of statistical mechanics. GIBBS’ version is taken as genuine and rigorous, while EINSTEIN’s, despite some features which are characteristic of him, is usually considered a not totally satisfactory attempt

We summarize the papers published by Einstein in the Annalen der Physik in the years 1902–04 on the derivation of the properties of thermal equilibrium on the basis of the mechanical equations of motion and of the calculus of probabilities.

Statistical mechanics and thermodynamics are nineteenthcentury classical physics, but they contain the seeds of the ideas that Albert Einstein would use to create quantum theory in the twentieth, especially the work of his annus mirabilis of 1905.

At the turn of the century Einstein, by holding to the nineteenth-century ideal of unifying physics on the foundation of mechanics, was in a dwindling minority. Most other theoretical physicists sought unity in one of two nonmechanical alternatives: the so-called energetic and electromagnetic points of view.

A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises, the more different kinds of things it relates, and the more extended its area of applicability.

The fluctuation–dissipation theorem (FDT) or fluctuation–dissipation relation (FDR) is a powerful tool in statistical physics for predicting the behavior of systems that obey detailed balance.

Thermodynamic Fluctuations and Statistical Physics

Einstein’s entire research career may be characterized as a search for a unified foundation of physics1. His works on statistical mechanics were no exceptions.

In common perception, Einstein comes out as a strong mathematical physicist. This is however a myth. The {dy1905} Einstein was close to real life phenomena. This article presents how he used simple ma

A comparative analysis of the descriptions of fluctuations in statistical mechanics (the Gibbs approach) and in statistical thermodynamics (the Einstein approach) is given. On this basis solutions are obtained for the Gibbs and Einstein problems that arise in pressure fluctuation calculations for a spatially limited equilibrium (or slightly nonequilibrium) macroscopic system.

The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein

American Journal of Physics: Vol 66, No 2