Statistical Physics
A section of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300).
Section Information
Statistical physics is a branch of modern physics that employs probability theory and statistical tools to inquire about the physical properties of systems formed by many degrees of freedom.
Although its origin can be traced back to the last decades of the 1800s, when a young Ludwig Boltzmann, with his kinetic theory of gas, was the first to introduce the existence of monads in a modern key and then to highlight the necessity of employing statistical methods in physics. Statistical physics has undergone rapid development during the 1900s thanks to its successes in solving physical problems with large populations and clarifying various observed phenomena such as phase transition, conduction of heat and electricity, and others which until then lacked a clear explanation within the existent theories.
Today, statistical physics is articulated into two main sections:
- Classical statistical mechanics: basically, developed to give a rational understanding of thermodynamics in terms of microscopic particles and their interactions.
- Quantum statistical mechanics: developed to incorporate quantum peculiarities like indistinguishability and entanglements into the theory as sources of novel statistical effects.
However, in recent decades we have seen a phase of rapid change where the field of applicability of statistical physics is constantly increasing. Although traditional statistical physics focuses on systems with many degrees of freedom, it is now well recognized that it can be successfully applied to an increasing number of physical and physical-like systems that seem to not comply with the thermodynamic limit. In this way, new ideas and concepts permitted a fresh approach to old problems. With new concepts, we mean to look for features that were ignored in previous experiments that lead to new exciting results. For instance, a constantly increasing number of situations are known to violate the predictions of orthodox statistical mechanics. Systems where these emerging features are observed seem to not fulfil the standard ergodic and mixing properties on which the Boltzmann–Gibbs formalism is founded. These systems are characterized by a phase space that self-organizes in a (multi)fractal structure, and are governed by nonlinear dynamics, which establishes a deep relation among the parts where the system is formed. Consequently, the problem regarding the relationship between statistical and dynamical laws becomes highlighted, leading to new fields of research that characterizes the disordered systems, such as deterministic chaos, self-organized criticality, turbulence, and intermittency, to cite a few.
The statistical physics section, broad and interdisciplinary in scope, intends to focus on the challenges of modern statistical physics and its applications to borderline problems while incorporating a high degree of mathematical rigor. Its aim is to provide a collection of high-quality research papers that meet the interest not only of physicists working in this field but also mathematicians and engineers interested in interdisciplinary topics. Generally, papers in pure statistics will not be accepted. Download Section Flyer
Keywords
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- Financial Innovation Investment Crowdfunding Mobile Banking (Online Banking) Foreign Remittance Automatic Savings Plan Internet and Mobile Finance
Editorial Board
Topical Advisory Panel
Special Issues
Following special issues within this section are currently open for submissions:
- Phase Transitions in Complex and Nonequilibrium Systems: From Criticality to Topological and Active Matter (Deadline: 20 February 2026)
- Interdisciplinary Statistical Physics, Neural Computation, and Complex Systems (Deadline: 30 March 2026)
- Statistical Mechanics of Lattice Gases (Deadline: 31 March 2026)
- Mathematical Modeling for Ion Channels (Deadline: 31 March 2026)
- Aspects of Social Dynamics: Models and Concepts (Deadline: 27 April 2026)
- Ising Model—100 Years Old and Still Attractive (Deadline: 28 April 2026)
- Statistical Physics Approaches for Modeling Human Social Systems (Deadline: 30 April 2026)
- From Order to Disorder: Superfluidity, Stochastic Processes, and the Dynamics of Life—Dedicated to Professor Peter McClintock on the Occasion of His 85th Birthday (Deadline: 30 April 2026)
- SUURI of Information Geometry: Dedicated to SUURI Engineer Professor Shun’ichi Amari on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday (Deadline: 30 April 2026)
- Entropy: From Atoms to Complex Systems (Deadline: 30 April 2026)
- Geometric Perspectives in Emergent Phenomena: From Phase Transitions to Machine Learning (Deadline: 15 May 2026)
- Quantum Field Theory Methods in Turbulence and Relativistic Hydrodynamics (Deadline: 31 May 2026)
- Dynamics Beyond the Hamiltonian: Dissipation in Classical Metriplectic Systems and Quantum Non-Unitary Systems (Deadline: 30 June 2026)
- Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Stochastic Processes of Complex Reaction Networks (Deadline: 30 June 2026)
- Dynamic Models of Group Decision Making (Deadline: 30 June 2026)
- Edge Modes, Impurities, and Phase Transitions in One-Dimensional Quantum Matter (Deadline: 30 June 2026)
- Non-Hermitian Quantum Systems: Emergent Phenomena and New Paradigms (Deadline: 31 July 2026)
- Modeling, Analysis, and Computation of Complex Fluids (Deadline: 31 July 2026)
- Complexity in High-Energy Physics: A Nonadditive Entropic Perspective (Deadline: 31 July 2026)
- Molecular Modeling and Simulation (Deadline: 3 September 2026)
- Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang (KPZ) Equation (Deadline: 31 December 2026)
Topical Collections
Following topical collections within this section are currently open for submissions:
