microstaten.
/ˈmʌɪkrə(ʊ)steɪt/, U.S. /ˈmaɪkroʊˌsteɪt/, /ˈmaɪkrəˌsteɪt/ 1. Physics. The state of a system as specified by a complete description of the position and velocity, or the quantum state, of every constituent particle. Also in extended use.
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1944 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 231 341 There are (N0)! different ways of arranging the N0 different values of z in N0 cells. Each of these (N0)! distributions may be considered to be a micro-distribution or a micro-state in space corresponding..to the given abstract distribution of z. (I am using the phrase ‘micro-state’ in the sense in which it is used in statistical mechanics.)
1950 F. W. Sears Introd. Thermodynamics xiv. 273 The number of microstates corresponding to a given macrostate can be computed by writing down the number of different arrangements or permutations of the phase points in the macrostate, exclusive of permutations which merely interchange the order of points within a particular cell.
1968 ‘J. Norman’ Priest-kings of Gor 39 The machine she spoke of would be a brainscanner of some sort which would record three-dimensionally the microstates of her brain, in particular those of the deeper, less alterable layers.
1991 A. J. M. Garrett in B. Buck & V. A. Macaulay Maximum Entropy in Action vi. 15 Discrepancy might in principle be due..to our having alighted on a rogue microstate consistent with the macroinformation but in which, say, all the particles move to one end of the container.
2. A very small country.
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1962 Economist 20 Jan. 204/1 The micro-states left behind by France—Niger, Chad, Dahomey, Togo.
1970 Britannica Bk. of Year (U.S.) 463 Other events included..proposals that a special UN membership category be created for ‘microstates’.
1974 Austral. Outlook 28 i. 24 No clear and universally acceptable definition of a microstate has yet emerged.
1996 J. Duursma (title) Fragmentation and the international relations of micro-states.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1944