An Emergence View Of Statistical Mechanics And Classical Physics From Darwinian Dynamics

Ping Ao, Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington

We present here an exploration on the physics implications of the Darwinian dynamics from biological sciences. We first show how the nonequilibrium statistical mechanics emerges naturally: the Darwinian dynamics emphasizes the role of the canonical ensemble, hence the Boltzmann-Gibbs type distribution function. We then show that the first three laws of the thermodynamics, the Zeroth Law, the First Law and the Second Law can be followed from the Darwinian dynamics, except the Third Law. The inability to derive the Third Law indicates that the Darwinian dynamics belongs to the "classical" domain. Specifically, the Second Law is proved from the dynamical point of view. Two types of current dynamical equalities are explicitly discussed in the present framework: one is based on Feynman-Kac formula and one is a generalization of the Einstein relation. Both are directly accessible to experimental tests. Our demonstration indicates that the Darwinian dynamics is logically a simple and straightforward starting point to get into thermodynamics and is complementary to the conservative dynamics dominated in physical sciences.

Online Manuscript: P. Ao, physics/0512252