Abstract for the talk on 15.11.2016 (17:00 h)

Colloquium of the Faculty of Physics and Geosciences

Stefan Kehrein (Universität Göttingen)
From Boltzmann to black holes - many-particle systems in non-equilibrium

The Boltzmann distribution is the starting point for the description of equilibrium many-

particle systems in statistical mechanics textbooks. For isolated many-particle systems the

situation is actually both more complicated and more interesting than alluded to by

conventional textbook treatments. This colloquium presents a closer look at the

foundations of statistical mechanics; a topic that has seen a lot of interest in the past

decade triggered by experiments on cold atomic gases. There is a plethora of interesting

phenomena associated with this question ranging from the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou

problem to spin echo experiments, the Unruh effect and black holes. I will give an

overview of some key questions, current answers and future directions of research.