Note on phase space contraction and entropy production in thermostatted Hamiltonian systems

The phase space contraction and the entropy production rates of Hamiltonian systems in an external field, thermostatted to obtain a stationary state, are considered. While for stationary states with a constant kinetic energy the two rates are formally equal for all numbers of particles N, for stationary states with constant total (kinetic and potential) energy this only obtains for large N. However, in both cases a large number of particles is required to obtain equality with the entropy production rate of Irreversible Thermodynamics. Consequences of this for the positivity of the transport coefficients and for the Onsager relations are discussed. Numerical results are presented for the special case of the Lorentz gas. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.