Classical small systems coupled to finite baths

Abstract

We have studied the properties of a classical $N_S$-body system coupled to a bath containing $N_B$-body harmonic oscillators, employing an $(N_S+N_B)$ model which is different from most of the existing models with $N_S=1$. We have performed simulations for $N_S$-oscillator systems, solving $2(N_S+N_B)$ first-order differential equations with $N_S \simeq 1 - 10$ and $N_B \simeq 10 - 1000$, in order to calculate the time-dependent energy exchange between the system and the bath. The calculated energy in the system rapidly changes while its envelope has a much slower time dependence. Detailed calculations of the stationary energy distribution of the system $f_S(u)$ ($u$: an energy per particle in the system) have shown that its properties are mainly determined by $N_S$ but weakly depend on $N_B$. The calculated $f_S(u)$ is analyzed with the use of the $\Gamma$ and $q$-$\Gamma$ distributions: the latter is derived with the superstatistical approach (SSA) and microcanonical approach (MCA) to the nonextensive statistics, where $q$ stands for the entropic index. Based on analyses of our simulation results, a critical comparison is made between the SSA and MCA. Simulations have been performed also for the $N_S$-body ideal-gas system. The effect of the coupling between oscillators in the bath has been examined by additional ($N_S+N_B$) models which include baths consisting of coupled linear chains with periodic and fixed-end boundary conditions.