cond-mat.stat-mech papers

Statistical mechanics explores how the chaotic motion of countless tiny particles gives rise to the predictable laws governing heat, pressure, and phase transitions. This field bridges the gap between the microscopic world of atoms and the macroscopic reality we experience daily, offering deep insights into why materials behave the way they do.

On Gist.Science, we process every new preprint in this category as it appears on arXiv to make these complex findings accessible to everyone. For each paper, we provide both a plain-language explanation for the curious reader and a detailed technical summary for specialists, ensuring that groundbreaking research is never lost behind a wall of jargon.

Below are the latest papers in statistical mechanics, freshly curated and summarized to help you understand the cutting edge of this fascinating discipline.

⚛️ quantum physics

Process-tensor approach to full counting statistics of charge transport in quantum many-body circuits

This paper introduces a numerical tensor-network method based on the process tensor to compute full counting statistics of charge transport in interacting one-dimensional quantum systems, successfully benchmarking the approach on the XXZ spin chain to recover known transport exponents and confirm the breakdown of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality in higher-order cumulants at the isotropic point.

Hari Kumar Yadalam, Mark T. Mitchison2026-04-01

🔬 condensed matter

Non-Hermitian Causal Memory Generates Observable Temporal Correlations Invisible to Spectral Analysis

This paper introduces a non-Hermitian causal generative model that produces statistically significant temporal correlations invisible to conventional spectral analysis, providing experimentally verified signatures of causal memory in open quantum systems.

Mario J. Pinheiro2026-04-01

🔬 condensed matter

Longest weakly increasing subsequences of discrete random walks on the integers with heavy tailed distribution of increments

This paper investigates the scaling behavior and distributional properties of the longest weakly increasing subsequences in discrete random walks with heavy-tailed increments, finding that the average length scales as $\sqrt{n}\log{n}$ for finite variance cases and as $n^\theta$ (with $\theta > 0.5$ ) for infinite variance cases, while the overall distribution is well-approximated by a lognormal model.

José Ricardo G. Mendonça, Marcelo V. Freire2026-04-01

🔬 condensed matter

How much of persistent homology is topology? A quantitative decomposition for spin model phase transitions

This paper introduces a quantitative decomposition method using density-matched shuffled null models to demonstrate that most persistent homology signals in classical spin models are driven by density correlations rather than genuine topology, suggesting that H₁ statistics and null model comparisons are essential for detecting true topological phase transitions.

Matthew Loftus2026-04-01

🔬 condensed matter

The geometric origin of criticality: a universal mechanism in mean-field rotor Hamiltonians

This paper proposes a universal geometric criterion for criticality in mean-field rotor Hamiltonians, demonstrating that phase transitions arise from the vanishing of curvature coefficients on constant-energy shells, which identifies geometrically unstable collective modes independent of specific model details.

Loris Di Cairano2026-04-01

🔬 condensed matter

Mean first passage times of velocity jump processes in higher dimensions

This paper presents a general framework for estimating mean first passage times of velocity jump processes in higher dimensions, deriving universal formulas for biased motion and revealing how directional persistence leads to anomalous scaling and finite passage times in the narrow capture limit where standard diffusion fails.

Maria R. D'Orsogna, Alan E. Lindsay, Thomas Hillen2026-04-01

🔬 condensed matter

Force Geometry and Irreversibility in Nonequilibrium Dynamics

This paper bridges a structural gap in scalar stochastic thermodynamics by establishing force geometry and the concept of force alignment as fundamental organizing principles that explain heterogeneous dissipation, define thermodynamic stalls, and provide a geometric lower bound on entropy production in nonequilibrium systems.

Erez Aghion, Swetamber Das2026-04-01

⚛️ phenomenology

Phase space fractons

This paper generalizes the construction of fracton models to phase space by classifying systems with multipole conservation laws and analyzing a new self-dual model that exhibits quasi-periodic orbits, thereby preventing full ergodic exploration of the phase space.

Ylias Sadki, Abhishodh Prakash, S. L. Sondhi, Daniel P. Arovas2026-03-31

⚛️ quantum physics

Asymptotic freedom in the dephased charging of quantum batteries

This paper demonstrates that collective charging of an N-qubit quantum battery coupled to a dephased charger exhibits an "asymptotic freedom"-like behavior where the ergotropy-to-energy ratio approaches unity as $1 - O(1/N)$ in the large-N limit, driven by approximate ground-state degeneracy despite the battery remaining in a mixed state.

Chayan Purkait, B. Prasanna Venkatesh, Gentaro Watanabe2026-03-31

⚛️ quantum physics

Quasiprobability Thermodynamic Uncertainty Relation

This paper derives a quantum extension of the thermodynamic uncertainty relation using the Terletsky-Margenau-Hill quasiprobability to demonstrate that surpassing classical output-to-dissipation limits requires basis-independent anomalous behaviors, such as negativity, rather than quantum coherence alone.

Kohei Yoshimura, Ryusuke Hamazaki2026-03-31

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