Back to the Abstract

	1 Introduction
	2 The most probable distribution
	3 Connexion with statistical mechanics
	4 First order microcanonical and canonical phase transitions
	5 The persistence of metastable states
	6 Relation to the Kramers problem
	7 Conclusion
	Appendix A: Justification of the mean-field approximation from the equilibrium BBGKY hierarchy
	Appendix B: Derivation of Eq. (128)
	Appendix C: Rotating self-gravitating systems
	References

List of figures