Time-Reversible Thermodynamic Irreversibility : One-Dimensional Heat-Conducting Oscillators and Two-Dimensional Newtonian Shockwaves

Abstract

We analyze the time-reversible mechanics of two irreversible simulation types. The first is a dissipative one-dimensional heat-conducting oscillator exposed to a temperature gradient in a three-dimensional phase space with coordinate $q$, momentum $p$, and thermostat control variable $\zeta$. The second type simulates a conservative two-dimensional $N$-body fluid with $4N$ phase variables $\{q,p\}$ undergoing shock compression. Despite the time-reversibility of each of the three oscillator equations and all of the $4N$ manybody motion equations both types of simulation are irreversible, obeying the Second Law of Thermodynamics. But for different reasons. The irreversible oscillator seeks out an attractive dissipative limit cycle. The likewise irreversible, but thoroughly conservative, Newtonian shockwave eventually generates a reversible near-equilibrium pair of rarefaction fans. Both problem types illustrate interesting features of Lyapunov instability.