Statistical mechanics in the context of special relativity. II.

ABSTRACT

The special relativity laws emerge as one-parameter (light speed) generalizations of the corresponding laws of classical physics. These generalizations, imposed by the Lorentz transformations, affect both the definition of the various physical observables (e.g., momentum, energy, etc.), as well as the mathematical apparatus of the theory. Here, following the general lines of [Phys. Rev. E 66, 056125 (2002)], we show that the Lorentz transformations impose also a proper one-parameter generalization of the classical Boltzmann-Gibbs-Shannon entropy. The obtained relativistic entropy permits us to construct a coherent and self-consistent relativistic statistical theory, preserving the main features of the ordinary statistical theory, which is recovered in the classical limit. The predicted distribution function is a one-parameter continuous deformation of the classical Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution and has a simple analytic form, showing power law tails in accordance with the experimental evidence. Furthermore, this statistical mechanics can be obtained as the stationary case of a generalized kinetic theory governed by an evolution equation obeying the H theorem and reproducing the Boltzmann equation of the ordinary kinetics in the classical limit.