This book gives the first detailed coherent treatment of a relatively young branch of statistical physics - nonlinear nonequilibrium and fluctuation-dissipative thermo dynamics. This area of research has taken shape fairly recently: its development began in 1959. The earlier theory -linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics - is in principle a simple special case of the new theory. Despite the fact that the title of this book includes the word "nonlinear", it also covers the results of linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The presentation of the linear and nonlinear theories is done within a common theoretical framework that is not subject to the linearity condition. The author hopes that the reader will perceive the intrinsic unity of this discipline, and the uniformity and generality of its constituent parts. This theory has a wide variety of applications in various domains of physics and physical chemistry, enabling one to calculate thermal fluctuations in various nonlinear systems. The book is divided into two volumes. Fluctuation-dissipation theorems (or relations) of various types (linear, quadratic and cubic, classical and quantum) are considered in the first volume. Here one encounters the Markov and non-Markov fluctuation-dissipation theorems (FDTs), theorems of the first, second and third kinds. Nonlinear FDTs are less well known than their linear counterparts.

The structure of the theory ofthermodynamics has changed enormously since its inception in the middle of the nineteenth century. Shortly after Thomson and Clausius enunciated their versions of the Second Law, Clausius, Maxwell, and Boltzmann began actively pursuing the molecular basis of thermo dynamics, work that culminated in the Boltzmann equation and the theory of transport processes in dilute gases. Much later, Onsager undertook the elucidation of the symmetry oftransport coefficients and, thereby, established himself as the father of the theory of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Com bining the statistical ideas of Gibbs and Langevin with the phenomenological transport equations, Onsager and others went on to develop a consistent statistical theory of irreversible processes. The power of that theory is in its ability to relate measurable quantities, such as transport coefficients and thermodynamic derivatives, to the results of experimental measurements. As powerful as that theory is, it is linear and limited in validity to a neighborhood of equilibrium. In recent years it has been possible to extend the statistical theory of nonequilibrium processes to include nonlinear effects. The modern theory, as expounded in this book, is applicable to a wide variety of systems both close to and far from equilibrium. The theory is based on the notion of elementary molecular processes, which manifest themselves as random changes in the extensive variables characterizing a system. The theory has a hierarchical character and, thus, can be applied at various levels of molecular detail.

The purpose of this book is to encourage the use of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to describe transport in complex, heterogeneous media. With large coupling effects between the transport of heat, mass, charge and chemical reactions at surfaces, it is important to know how one should properly integrate across systems where different phases are in contact. No other book gives a prescription of how to set up flux equations for transports across heterogeneous systems.The authors apply the thermodynamic description in terms of excess densities, developed by Gibbs for equilibrium, to non-equilibrium systems. The treatment is restricted to transport into and through the surface. Using local equilibrium together with the balance equations for the surface, expressions for the excess entropy production of the surface and of the contact line are derived. Many examples are given to illustrate how the theory can be applied to coupled transport of mass, heat, charge and chemical reactions; in phase transitions, at electrode surfaces and in fuel cells. Molecular simulations and analytical studies are used to add insight.

This book stresses the role of uncorrelated exchange of properties between macroscopic systems and their surroundings as the only source of dynamic irreversibility. To that end, fundamentals of statistical thermodynamics extended to the non-equilibrium are worked out carefully. The principles are then applied to selected problems in classical fluid dynamics. Transport coefficients are first derived from basic laws. This is followed by a full discussion of transitions to dissipative structures in selected systems far removed from equilibrium (B‚nard and Taylor vortices, calculation of the critical Reynolds number for transition to turbulence in Poiseuille flow). The final part focuses on interaction of matter with light. Fundamentals are extended towards quantum-mechanical systems. Applied to coherent radiation and its interaction with matter, the proposed thermodynamic treatment introduces an original discussion into the quantum nature of micro-physics.The book questions and reconsiders a deeply rooted paradigm in macroscopic dynamics concerning the cause of irreversibility. The new proposal is illustrated by application to a couple of well documented non-equilibrium domains, namely fluid dynamics and laser physics.

Maximum Dissipation: Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics and its Geometric Structure explores the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium processes in materials. The book develops a general technique created in order to construct nonlinear evolution equations describing non-equilibrium processes, while also developing a geometric context for non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Solid materials are the main focus in this volume, but the construction is shown to also apply to fluids. This volume also: • Explains the theory behind thermodynamically-consistent construction of non-linear evolution equations for non-equilibrium processes • Provides a geometric setting for non-equilibrium thermodynamics through several standard models, which are defined as maximum dissipation processes • Emphasizes applications to the time-dependent modeling of soft biological tissue Maximum Dissipation: Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics and its Geometric Structure will be valuable for researchers, engineers and graduate students in non-equilibrium thermodynamics and the mathematical modeling of material behavior.

This book presents the theory of non-equilibrium thermodynamics in a pedagogical and practical way that targets engineering applications. In it, tools to take advantage of the second as well as the first law of thermodynamics are provided.The book starts by explaining how the entropy production is the cornerstone of non-equilibrium thermodynamics — the basis to describe coupled transport phenomena, which are highly relevant for several renewable energy technologies. The book also uses entropy production as the foundation for a systematic methodology to analyze and improve energy efficiency, and shows how entropy production can be used to test the consistency of transport models. The link between transport theory and energy efficiency is also shown, and the relationship to exergy analysis is demonstrated. The theory is applied using examples from practical cases like evaporation, heat exchange, reactor optimization, distillation and more.Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics for Engineering Applications may be used as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate university curricula containing thermodynamics or energy conversion issues at large, chemical and mechanical engineering, applied chemistry and applied physics.

This two-volume work gives the first detailed coherent treatment of a relatively young branch of statistical physics - nonlinear nonequilibrium and fluctuational dissipative thermodynamics. This area of research has taken shape rather recently: its de~elopment began in 1959. The earlier theory - linear nonequilibrium ther modynamics - is in principle a simple special case of the new theory. Despite the fact that the title of the book includes the word 'nonlinear', it also covers the results of linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The presentation of the linear and nonlinear theories is done within a common theoretical framework that is not subject to the linearity condition. The author hopes that the reader will perceive the intrinsic unjty of this dis cipline, the uniformity and generality of its constituent parts. This theory has a wide variety of applications in various domains of physics and physical chemistry, enabling one to calculate thermal fluctuations in various nonlinear systems. The book is divided into two volumes. Fluctuation-dissipation theorems (or relations) of various types (linear, quadratic and cubic, classical and quantum) are considered in the first volume. There one encounters the Markov and non-Markov fluctuation-dissipation theorems (FDTs), theorems of the first, second and third kinds. Nonlinear FDTs are less known than their linear counterparts. The present second volume of the book deals with the advanced theory. It consists of four chapters. The connection and interdependence of the material in the various chapters of both volumes are illustrated in the accompanying diagram.