The purpose of this work is to discuss recent progress in deriving the fundamental laws of thermodynamics (0th, 1st and 2nd-law) from nonequilibrium quantum statistical mechanics. Basic thermodynamic notions are clarified and different reversible and irreversible thermodynamic processes are studied from the point of view of quantum statistical mechanics. Special emphasis is put on new adiabatic theorems for steady states close to and far from equilibrium, and on investigating cyclic thermodynamic processes using an extension of Floquet theory.
In this paper, we develop a Hamiltonian variational formulation for the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of simple adiabatically closed systems that is an extension of Hamilton's phase space principle in mechanics. We introduce the Hamilton-d'Alembert principle for thermodynamic systems by considering nonlinear nonholonomic constraints of thermodynamic type. In particular, for the case in which the given Lagrangian is degenerate, we construct the Hamiltonian by incorporating the primary constraints via Dirac's theory of constraints. We illustrate our Hamiltonian variational formulation with some …
A variational formulation for nonequilibrium thermodynamics was recently proposed in \cite{GBYo2017a,GBYo2017b} for both discrete and continuum systems. This formulation extends the Hamilton principle of classical mechanics to include irreversible processes. In this paper, we show that this variational formulation yields a constructive and systematic way to derive from a unified perspective several bracket formulations for nonequilibrium thermodynamics proposed earlier in the literature, such as the single generator bracket and the double generator bracket. In the case of a linear relation bet…
In this paper, we survey our recent results on the variational formulation of nonequilibrium thermodynamics for the finite dimensional case of discrete systems as well as for the infinite dimensional case of continuum systems. Starting with the fundamental variational principle of classical mechanics, namely, Hamilton's principle, we show, with the help of thermodynamic systems with gradually increasing level complexity, how to systematically extend it to include irreversible processes. In the finite dimensional cases, we treat systems experiencing the irreversible processes of mechanical fric…
Dirac structures are geometric objects that generalize Poisson structures and presymplectic structures on manifolds. They naturally appear in the formulation of constrained mechanical systems and play an essential role in structuring a dynamical system through the energy flow between its subsystems and elements. In this paper, we show that the evolution equations for open thermodynamic systems, i.e., systems exchanging heat and matter with the exterior, admit an intrinsic formulation in terms of Dirac structures. We focus on simple systems, in which the thermodynamic state is described by a si…
We are describing relations between Schrödinger's variational problem and Onsager's approach to nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. Although the second work on reciprocal relations and detailed balance has been published in the same year (1931) as the first one, the impact of Schrödinger's idea has not yet been considered in the classical context of Onsager.
Irreversible processes play a major role in the description and prediction of atmospheric dynamics. In this paper, we present a variational derivation of the evolution equations for a moist atmosphere with rain process and subject to the irreversible processes of viscosity, heat conduction, diffusion, and phase transition. This derivation is based on a general variational formalism for nonequilibrium thermodynamics which extends Hamilton's principle to incorporates irreversible processes. It is valid for any state equation and thus also covers the case of the atmosphere of other planets. In th…
We propose a variational formulation for the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of discrete open systems, i.e., discrete systems which can exchange mass and heat with the exterior. Our approach is based on a general variational formulation for systems with time-dependent nonlinear nonholonomic constraints and time-dependent Lagrangian. For discrete open systems, the~time-dependent nonlinear constraint is associated with the rate of internal entropy production of the system. We show that this constraint on the solution curve systematically yields a constraint on the variations to be used in the acti…
We propose a unified framework to study the turbulent transport problem from the perspective of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. By combining Krarichnan's turbulence thermalization assumption and Ruelle's recent work on nonequilibrium statistical mechanics settings for fluids, we show that the equation for viscous fluid can be viewed as the non-canonical Hamiltonian system perturbed by different thermostats. This allows an analogy between the viscous fluid and the nonequilibrium heat conduction model where the Fourier modes can be regarded as the ''particles''. With this framework, we ref…
In Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics and Information Theory, the relative entropy (or, KL divergence) plays a very important role. Consider a Hölder Jacobian $J$ and the Ruelle (transfer) operator $\mathcal{L}_{\log J}.$ Two equilibrium probabilities $μ_1$ and $μ_2$, can interact via a discrete-time {\it Thermodynamic Operation} described by the action {\it of the dual of the Ruelle operator} $ \mathcal{L}_{\log J}^*$. We argue that the law $μ\to \mathcal{L}_{\log J}^*(μ)$, producing nonequilibrium, can be seen as a Thermodynamic Operation after showing that it's a manifestation of the Second Law …
