SH33C-01
Superstatistics: Theory and Applications

Wednesday, 16 December 2015: 13:45
2009 (Moscone West)
Christian Beck, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Mathematical Sciences, London, United Kingdom
Abstract:
Many driven nonequilibrium systems are described by a superposition of several dynamics on various time scales. If time scales are clearly separated then the formalism of superstatistics can be applied, leading effectively to a more general statistical mechanics relevant for complex systems. In these types of systems there is often dynamical behavior that is characterized by spatio-temporal fluctuations of an intensive parameter β. This parameter may be for example the inverse temperature, or an effective friction constant, or the amplitude of Gaussian white noise, or the energy dissipation in turbulent flows, or simply a local variance parameter extracted from a measured signal. A nonhomogenoeus spatially extended system with fluctuations in β on a large time scale, larger than the local relaxation time, leads to a superstatistical description, by averaging local Boltzmann factors using a suitable weight function f(β). Kappa distributions in space plasma physics are one example which naturally follows out of this formalism, but there are many applications in other areas as well. In this talk I will sketch the basic theory underlying the superstatistical approach and then describe a couple of recent applications.