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 [1003.5680] A dynamical classification of the range of pair interactions
 Authors: Andrea Gabrielli, Michael Joyce, Bruno Marcos, Francois Sicard Abstract: We formalize and discuss the relevance of a classification of pair interactions based on the convergence properties of the {\it forces} acting on particles as a function of system size. We do so by considering the behavior of the probability distribution function (PDF) P(F) of the force field F in a particle distribution in the limit that the size of the system is taken to infinity at constant particle density, i.e., in the "usual" thermodynamic limit. For a pair interaction potential V(r) with V(r \to \infty) ~ 1/r^\gamma defining a {\it bounded} pair force, we show that P(F) converges continuously to a well-defined and rapidly decreasing PDF if and only if the {\it pair force} is absolutely integrable, i.e., for \gamma > d-1, where d is the spatial dimension. We refer to this case as {\it dynamically short-range}, because the dominant contribution to the force on a typical particle in this limit arises from particles in a finite neighborhood around it. For the {\it dynamically long-range} case, i.e., \gamma d-2 (or \gamma < d-2), for which the PDF of the {\it difference in forces} is defined (or not defined) in the infinite system limit, without any regularization. [PDF] [PS] [BibTex] [Bookmark]

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Syksy Rasanen

Joined: 02 Mar 2005
Posts: 128
Affiliation: University of Helsinki

 Posted: April 21 2010 This nice paper (unfortunately not crossposted to astro-ph) studies the well-definedness of classical interactions which go like a power-law in the long-range limit, in d dimensions. Newtonian gravity in three dimensions is a particular marginally pathological case. The fact that Newtonian gravity is not well-defined for an infinite system is of course well known in cosmology, but this puts the problem nicely in context. (It would be interesting to know what are the statistical properties of similar systems in general relativity, where there is no problem with infinite systems and the physics is quite different.) As a minor issue, the authors also argue that systems where the absolute force diverges can be considered well-defined is the relative forces between particles remain finite, which seems to me odd, since absolute acceleration is measurable.
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