Loss of Temporal Homogeneity and Symmetry in Statistical Systems: Deterministic Versus Stochastic Dynamics

Abstract: A detailed analysis of deterministic (one-to-one) and stochastic (one-to-many) dynamics establishes that dS/dt > 0 is only consistent with the latter, which contains violation of temporal symmetry and homogeneity. We observe that the former only supports dS/dt = 0 and cannot give rise to Boltzmann’s molecular chaos assumption. The ensemble average is more meaningful than the temporal average, especially in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics of systems confined to disjoint phase space components, which commonly occurs at low temperatures. We propose that the stochasticity arises from extra degrees of freedom, which are not part of the system. We provide a simple resolution of the recurrence and irreversibility paradoxes.