Beyond Equilibrium Thermodynamics fills a niche in the market by providing a comprehensive introduction to a new, emerging topic in the field. The importance of non-equilibrium thermodynamics is addressed in order to fully understand how a system works, whether it is in a biological system like the brain or a system that develops plastic. In order to fully grasp the subject, the book clearly explains the physical concepts and mathematics involved, as well as presenting problems and solutions; over 200 exercises and answers are included. Engineers, scientists, and applied mathematicians can all use the book to address their problems in modelling, calculating, and understanding dynamic responses of materials.

Beyond Equilibrium Thermodynamics fills a niche in the market by providing a comprehensive introduction to a new, emerging topic in the field. The importance of non-equilibrium thermodynamics is addressed in order to fully understand how a system works, whether it is in a biological system like the brain or a system that develops plastic. In order to fully grasp the subject, the book clearly explains the physical concepts and mathematics involved, as well as presenting problems and solutions; over 200 exercises and answers are included. Engineers, scientists, and applied mathematicians can all use the book to address their problems in modelling, calculating, and understanding dynamic responses of materials.

The present volume studies the application of concepts from non-equilibrium thermodynamics to a variety of research topics. Emphasis is on the Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) principle and applications to Geosphere-Biosphere couplings. Written by leading researchers from a wide range of backgrounds, the book presents a first coherent account of an emerging field at the interface of thermodynamics, geophysics and life sciences.

Discover the many facets of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. The first part of this book describes the current thermodynamic formalism recognized as the classical theory. The second part focuses on different approaches. Throughout the presentation, the emphasis is on problem-solving applications. To help build your understanding, some problems have been analyzed using several formalisms to underscore their differences and their similarities.

The Second Law, a cornerstone of thermodynamics, governs the average direction of dissipative, non-equilibrium processes. But it says nothing about their actual rates or the probability of fluctuations about the average. This interdisciplinary book, written and peer-reviewed by international experts, presents recent advances in the search for new non-equilibrium principles beyond the Second Law, and their applications to a wide range of systems across physics, chemistry and biology. Beyond The Second Law brings together traditionally isolated areas of non-equilibrium research and highlights potentially fruitful connections between them, with entropy production playing the unifying role. Key theoretical concepts include the Maximum Entropy Production principle, the Fluctuation Theorem, and the Maximum Entropy method of statistical inference. Applications of these principles are illustrated in such diverse fields as climatology, cosmology, crystal growth morphology, Earth system science, environmental physics, evolutionary biology and technology, fluid turbulence, microbial biogeochemistry, plasma physics, and radiative transport, using a wide variety of analytical and experimental techniques. Beyond The Second Law will appeal to students and researchers wishing to gain an understanding of entropy production and its central place in the science of non-equilibrium systems – both in detail and in terms of the bigger picture.

Classical irreversible thermodynamics, as developed by Onsager, Prigogine and many other authors, is based on the local-equilibrium hypothesis. Out of equilibrium, any system is assumed to depend locally on the same set of variables as when it is in eqUilibrium. This leads to a formal thermody namic structure identical to that of eqUilibrium: intensive parameters such as temperature, pressure and chemical potentials are well-defined quantities keeping their usual meaning, thermodynamic potentials are derived as Leg endre transformations and all equilibrium thermodynamic relations retain their validity. The theory based on this hypothesis has turned out to be very useful and has achieved a number of successes in many practical situations. of interest in going However, the recent decade has witnessed a surge beyond the classical formulation. There are several reasons for this. One of them is the development of experimental methods able to deal with the response of systems to high-frequency and short-wavelength perturbations, such as ultrasound propagation and light and neutron scattering. The ob served results have led to generalizations of the classical hydrodynamical theories, by including memory functions or generalized transport coefficients depending on the frequency and the wavevector. This field has generated impressive progress in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, but for the moment it has not brought about a parallel development in non-equilibrium thermodynamics. An extension of thermodynamics compatible with gener alized hydrodynamics therefore appears to be a natural subject of research.

This book presents a coherent formulation of all aspects of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics with entropy as the unifying theme. By consolidating these approaches into a coherent and self-contained framework, it is intended to improve the understanding of this fundamental and fascinating area of physics.