Weyl geometry and dynamics of Gaussian thermostats
A Weyl structure on a manifold generalizes a Riemannian metric. It is
a torsion free connection with the parallel transport preserving a
given conformal class of Riemannian metrics. We established recently
that the geodesic flows of Weyl connections (W-flows) coincide with
the Gaussian thermostats, introduced 15 years ago by Hoover and Posch
as a model thermostatting mechanism in computational nonequilibrium
statistical mechanics.
Two kinds of problems are raised by this discovery. What methods and
results of the theory of Riemannian geodesic flows apply to these
nonconservative deformations ? What does the Weyl geometry tell us
about the dynamical models of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics ?
In particular we will address the validity of the Conjugate Pairing
Rule of Cohen and Morriss and the Fluctuation Theorem of Gallavotti
and Cohen.