Volume 20: Pages 3-22, 2007)

Boltzmann Kinetic Equation and Equiprobability Postulate

K. G. Folin ¹

¹Institute of Automation and Electrometry, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090 Novosibirsk‐90, Russia

It has been shown that the approaches based on the postulate of equiprobability of all acceptable microstates of a dynamical system (the Gibbs distributions and the Boltzmann method) do not satisfy criteria for a theory to be applicable (specifically, agreement with experimental data and inherent consistency), unlike the approach based on the Boltzmann equation. An approach that satisfies these criteria and that is based on the abandonment of the equiprobability postulate is offered. Concepts of spontaneous and stimulated microstates, which imply the failure of the equiprobability of microstates, are introduced. The arguments for the following assertions are suggested: probability and, consequently, one‐particle and many‐particle distribution functions in principle cannot depend on time; the molecular chaos hypothesis leads to the inherent inconsistency of the Boltzmann equation; the relaxation process results in some ordering of gas particle behavior; the distinguishability of identical particles is a necessary condition to describe the behavior of ensemble particles in terms of probability.

Keywords: microstates, equiprobability, distribution function, Gibbs distribution, Boltzmann method, kinetic equation, applicability criteria, thermodynamic laws, spontaneous and stimulated microstates

Received: December 6, 2001; Published Online: January 8, 2009