Superstatistics: Theory and Applications

Christian Beck

Published 2003-03-15Version 1

Superstatistics is a superposition of two different statistics relevant for driven nonequilibrium systems with a stationary state and intensive parameter fluctuations. It contains Tsallis statistics as a special case. After briefly summarizing some of the theoretical aspects, we describe recent applications of this concept to three different physical problems, namely a) fully developed hydrodynamic turbulence b) pattern formation in thermal convection states and c) the statistics of cosmic rays.