the second entropy a variational principle for time-dependent systems第二个熵时间系统的变分原理.pdfVIP

Entropy 2008, 10, 380-390; DOI: 10.3390/ OPEN ACCESS entropy ISSN 1099-4300 Article /entropy The Second Entropy: A Variational Principle for Time-dependent Systems Phil Attard School of Chemistry F11, University of Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia E-mail: attard@.au Received: 3 May 2008 / Accepted: 4 September 2008 / Published: 25 September 2008 Abstract: The fundamental optimization principle for non-equilibrium thermodynamics is given. The second entropy is introduced as the quantity that is maximised to determine the optimum state of a non-equilibrium system. In contrast, the principles of maximum or mini- mum dissipation, which have previously been proposed by Onsager, Prigogine, and others as ˆ the variational principle for such systems, are shown to be incapable of fulfilling that role. Keywords: entropy, second law, non-equilibrium 1. Introduction The second entropy is a a new type of entropy that has been introduced by the author for non- equilibrium systems. The concept has emerged from a theory for non-equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics that has been developed over the last few years. For reviews see Refs [1, 2]. Amongst other things, the theory has lead for the first time to the generalization of the Boltzmann dis- tribution to non-equilibrium systems, and to the development of a Monte Carlo computer algorithm for such time-dependent systems [3]. In this paper the theory i