Question
I was developing the following ideas for a gas and was wondering if these ideas were already in the literature?
The main ideas are:
-
Using the action in thermodynamics
- Including the collision
- Using the mean free path to define temperature
I'm not sure how one would derive the intended formula at the end.
Background
Usually, the Hamiltonian of a gas at thermal equilibrium does not include a collision term which would imply at a collision:
$$ \underbrace{\cdot}_{A} \rightarrow \leftarrow \underbrace{\cdot}_{B}$$
$$ \underbrace{\cdot}_{B} \leftarrow \rightarrow \underbrace{\cdot}_{A}$$
They actually go through each other.
My attempt
Consider a relativistic gas (point) particles with a $2$ particles $A$ and $B$ in a box and the only collide once.
The line element of the $A$and $B$ before a collision is given by $ds_i^2 $
where $i=A$ or $i=B$. Similarly, the action is given by:
$$ S_i = - m_ic \int_P d s_i$$
Where $P$ is the world line before the collision $s_A^\mu = s_B^\mu$ where $s_i^\mu$ is the four position vector. After the collision, we know the momentum $p^\mu$ is conserved:
$$ p_A^\mu + p_B^\mu = {p'}_A^\mu + {p'}_B^\mu$$
where ${p'}_i^\mu$ denotes the momentum after the collision. Differentiating with respect to $\frac{d}{ds_i}$ and using
$ \frac{d p^\mu_i}{ds_i} =0$ then:
$$ \frac{d p_j^\mu}{ds_i} = \frac{d {p'}_A^\mu}{ds_i} + \frac{d {p'}_B^\mu}{ds_i}$$
with $j \neq i$
After the collision the action is given by:
$$ S'_i = - m_i c \int_{P'} d s'_i$$
where $P'$ is the world line after the collision and $d s'_i$ is defined by $\frac{dp'_i}{ds'_i} = 0$.
Let us write $ds_A$ in terms of $ds'_A$. We proceed with:
$$ \frac{d {p}_A^\mu}{ds_i} + \frac{d {p}_B^\mu}{ds_i} = \frac{d {p'}_j^\mu}{ds_i}$$
Using the chain rule:
$$ \frac{d {p}_A^\mu}{ds_i} + \frac{d {p}_B^\mu}{ds_i} = \frac{d {p'}_j^\mu}{ds'_j} \frac{d s'_j}{ds_i} = \frac{\frac{d {p'}_j^\mu}{ds'_j}}{(\frac{d s'_j}{ds_i})^{-1}}$$
And as the L.H.S above is finite:
$$\frac{d {p'}_j^\mu}{ds'_j} \to 0 \implies (\frac{d s'_j}{ds_i})^{-1} \to 0$$
Using L' Hopital Rule:
$$ \frac{d {p'}_j^\mu}{ds_i} =\frac{d {p}_A^\mu}{ds_i} + \frac{d {p}_B^\mu}{ds_i} = \frac{\frac{d^2 {p'}_j^\mu}{{ds'_j}^2}}{\frac{d}{ds'_j}(\frac{d s'_j}{ds_i})^{-1}}$$
Or:
$$\frac{d}{ds'_j}(\frac{d s'_j}{ds_i})^{-1} \frac{d {p'}_j^\mu}{ds_i} = \frac{d^2 {p'}_j^\mu}{{ds'_j}^2}$$
The above should be solvable as we have $2$ boundary conditions (conservation of momentum and $s_i = s_j$). Hence:
$$ {ds_i} = {d s'_j} \int \frac{d^2 {p'}_j^\mu}{{ds'_j}^2} (\frac{d {p'}_j^\mu}{ds_i})^{-1} {ds'_j}$$
Hence, the action of particle $i$ is:
$$ S_i = - m_ic \int_P {d s'_j} \Big ( \int \frac{d^2 {p'}_j^\mu}{{ds'_j}^2} (\frac{d {p'}_j^\mu}{ds_i})^{-1} {ds'_j} \Big) - m_i c \int_{P'} d s'_i$$
One can take sum over $i$ to find the net action.
General case and more work
Now, there are an infinite number of collisions for $N$ particles and the is temperature $T_1$. We know the mean free path is a function of temperature. Hence,
$$ S'_i = - m_ic \int_P d s_i - m_i c \int_{P'} d s'_i - \dots $$
$$ T = f(\text{Most Probable}(\text{Length}(P'' ^k))$$
Where $\text{Length}(P)$ is the length of an arbitrary worldline $P'' ^k$, $\text{Most Probable}$ tells one the most probable function in the series of the action $S_i$ and $f$ is an unknown function.