Observation of coupled normal heat and matter transport in a simple model system

Abstract

We introduce the first simple mechanical system that shows fully realistic transport behavior while still being exactly solvable at the level of equilibrium statistical mechanics. The system under consideration is a Lorentz gas with fixed freely-rotating circular scatterers which scatter point particles via perfectly rough collisions. Upon imposing either a temperature gradient and/or a chemical potential gradient, a stationary state is attained for which local thermal equilibrium holds. Transport in this system is normal, in the sense that the transport coefficients which characterize the flow of heat and matter are finite in the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, the two flows are non-trivially coupled, satisfying Onsager's reciprocity relations to within numerical accuracy.