We study the ergodic properties of a two-dimensional self-gravitating system using molecular dynamics simulations. We apply three different tests for ergodicity: a direct method comparing the time average of a particle momentum and position to the respective ensemble average, sojourn times statistics and the dynamical functional method. For comparison purposes they are also applied to a short-range interacting system and to the Hamiltonian mean-field model. Our results show that a two-dimensional self-gravitating system takes a very long time to establish ergodicity.If a Kac factor is used in the potential energy, such that the total energy is extensive, then this time is independent of particle number, and diverges with √ N without a Kac factor.

The statement that Gibbs equilibrium ensembles are equivalent is a base line in many approaches in the context of equilibrium statistical mechanics. However, as a known fact, for some physical systems this equivalence may not be true. In this paper we illustrate from first principles the inequivalence between the canonical and microcanonical ensembles for a system with long range interactions. We make use of molecular dynamics simulations and Monte Carlo simulations to explore the thermodynamics properties of the self gravitating ring model and discuss on what conditions the Maxwell construction is applicable.