Test of Information Theory on the Boltzmann Equation

Thermodynamics, and in particular its first law, is of fundamental importance to Science, and therefore of great general interest to all physicists. The first law, although undoubtedly true, and believed by everyone to be true because of its many verified consequences, rests on a rather weak experimental foundation as its path independent aspect has never been directly verified, and rests on a somewhat weak foundation apropos the need for invoking the so-called adiabatic theo...

We have presented first an axiomatic derivation of Boltzmann entropy on the basis of two axioms consistent with two basic properties of thermodynamic entropy. We have then studied the relationship between Boltzmann entropy and information along with its physical significance.

Within its range of applicability, the Boltzmann equation seems unique in its capacity to accurately describe the transition from almost any initial state to a self-equilibrated thermal state. Using information-theoretic methods to rephrase the key idea of Maxwell and Boltzmann, the Sto{\ss}zahlansatz, a far more general, abstract ansatz is developed. An increase of the Gibbs-Shannon-von Neumann entropy results without the usual coarse-graining. The mathematical structure of ...

In this paper we develop a generalized formalism for equilibrium thermodynamic systems when an information is shared between the system and the reservoir. The information results in a correction to the entropy of the system. This extension of the formalism requires a consistent generalization of the concept of thermodynamic temperature. We show that this extended equilibrium formalism includes also non-equilibrium conditions in steady state. By non-equilibrium conditions we m...

A survey of the approach to Statistical Mechanics following Boltzmann's theory of ensembles and ergodic hypothesis leading to chaoticity as a unifying principle of equilibrium and nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics.

In a previous paper [1] we considered the question, "What underlying property of nature is responsible for the second law?" A simple answer can be stated in terms of information: The fundamental loss of information gives rise to the second law. This line of thinking highlights the existence of two independent but coupled sets of laws: Information dynamics and energy dynamics. The distinction helps shed light on certain foundational questions in statistical mechanics. For exam...

The paper deals with the generalization of both Boltzmann entropy and distribution in the light of most-probable interpretation of statistical equilibrium. The statistical analysis of the generalized entropy and distribution leads to some new interesting results of significant physical importance.

We focus attention on some particular thermodynamic relations (PTR). Using information theory concepts we show that, for a reversible process, microscopic considerations related to these PTR make the concomitant informational contents of the first and second laws equivalent. The pertinent demonstration is obtained when trying to ascertain the corresponding equilibrium microscopic probability distribution. We also describe other instances in which the above mentioned informati...

Although information theory resolves inconsistencies (known under the form of famous enigmas) of the traditional approach of thermostatistics, its place in the corresponding literature is not what it deserves. This article supports the idea that this is mainly due to epistemological rather than scientific reasons: the subjectivity introduced into physics is perceived as a problem. Here is an attempt to expose and clarify where exactly this subjectivity lies: in the representa...

Information based thermodynamic logic is revisited. It consists of two parts: Part A applies the modern theory of probability in which an arbitrary convex function \phi is employed as an analytic "device" to express information as statistical dependency contained in the topological sub-\sigma-algebra structure. Via thermo-doubling, Fenchel-Young equality (FYE) that consists of \phi(x) and its conjugate \psi(y) establishes the notion of equilibrium between x and y through dual...