Time-reversible deterministic thermostats

Seven different time-reversible deterministic thermostats are considered here and applied to a simple particle-based nonequilibrium heat-flow problem. This approach is robust. Results for all these different thermostats agree rather well for system widths of ten particle diameters or more. The simplest of the thermostats is the Gauss–Nosé–Hoover thermostat, based on kinetic-energy control. Higher moments of the particle momenta can be controlled by extensions of this idea involving as many as three additional thermostat variables. Generalizations of the deterministic thermostats suited to simulating “stochastic” and “Brownian” dynamics are discussed here too.