Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics: Equivalence Between Dual Entropy and Dual Probabilities

Abstract

The concept of duality of probability distributions constitutes a fundamental “brick” in the solid framework of nonextensive statistical mechanics—the generalization of Boltzmann–Gibbs statistical mechanics under the consideration of the q-entropy. The probability duality is solving old-standing issues of the theory, e.g., it ascertains the additivity for the internal energy given the additivity in the energy of microstates. However, it is a rather complex part of the theory, and certainly, it cannot be trivially explained along the Gibb’s path of entropy maximization. Recently, it was shown that an alternative picture exists, considering a dual entropy, instead of a dual probability. In particular, the framework of nonextensive statistical mechanics can be equivalently developed using q- and 1/q- entropies. The canonical probability distribution coincides again with the known q-exponential distribution, but without the necessity of the duality of ordinary-escort probabilities. Furthermore, it is shown that the dual entropies, q-entropy and 1/q-entropy, as well as, the 1-entropy, are involved in an identity, useful in theoretical development and applications.