On Criteria of Transition to a Thermodynamic Description of System Dynamics

Abstract

The main characteristics of motion of an equilibrium system of potentially interacting material points in a nonuniform field of forces and the criteria determining the transition from discrete to thermodynamic system description are studied. A change in the internal energy of the system passing through a potential barrier is studied depending on the barrier width, the number of the system elements, and the initial conditions. It is demonstrated how the amplitude of fluctuations of the system energy parameters changes depending on the number of the material points. The D-entropy is evaluated. Two critical numbers are established. The first determines the number of the material points required for system transition to irreversible dynamics, and the second determines transition to the thermodynamic description. The conformity between the results obtained and the theoretical principles of system dynamics is analyzed.