NONEQUILIBRIUM ENSEMBLE METHOD FOR DILUTE GASES - GRAND-CANONICAL ENSEMBLE

The nonequilibrium ensemble method is developed for dilute gases by us ing a nonequilibrium grand canonical ensemble distribution function. T he underlying kinetic equation is an irreversible kinetic equation (e. g., the Boltzmann equation) satisfying a set of conditions that guaran tee the existence of conservation laws and the H theorem. Such a kinet ic equation is shown to give rise to a thermodynamically consistent th eory of irreversible processes and an attendant nonequilibrium statist ical thermodynamics completely parallel to statistical thermodynamics in the equilibrium Gibbs ensemble theory. It is shown that all macrosc opic nonequilibrium variables are given in terms of the nonequilibrium grand canonical partition function for the system at arbitrary degree of removal from equilibrium.