On the foundations of statistical mechanics

Although not as wide, and popular, as that of quantum mechanics, the investigation of fundamental aspects of statistical mechanics constitutes an important research field in the building of modern physics. Besides the interest for itself, both for physicists and philosophers, and the obvious pedagogical motivations, there is a further, compelling reason for a thorough understanding of the subject. The fast development of models and methods at the edge of the established domain of the field requires indeed a deep reflection on the essential aspects of the theory, which are at the basis of its success. These elements should never be disregarded when trying to expand the domain of statistical mechanics to systems with novel, little known features.

It is thus important to (re)consider in a careful way the main ingredients involved in the foundations of statistical mechanics. Among those, a primary role is covered by the dynamical aspects (e.g. presence of chaos), the emergence of collective features for large systems, and the use of probability in the building of a consistent statistical description of physical systems.

With this goal in mind, in the present review we aim at providing a consistent picture of the state of the art of the subject, both in the classical and in the quantum realm. In particular, we will highlight the similarities of the key technical and conceptual steps with emphasis on the relevance of the many degrees of freedom, to justify the use of statistical ensembles in the two domains.