The science of ^cs

DOI10.1007/S10701-020-00371-3MaRDI QIDQ828341zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 8 January 2021

Published in Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.11729

entropy resource theories statistical mechanics thermodynamics

Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to classical thermodynamics (80-01) Foundations of thermodynamics and heat transfer (80A05) History of statistical mechanics (82-03) Foundations of equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B03)

Abstract: There is a long tradition of thinking of thermodynamics, not as a theory of fundamental physics (or even a candidate theory of fundamental physics), but as a theory of how manipulations of a physical system may be used to obtain desired effects, such as mechanical work. On this view, the basic concepts of thermodynamics, heat and work, and with them, the concept of entropy, are relative to a class of envisaged manipulations. This view has been dismissed by many philosophers of physics, in my opinion too hastily. This paper is a sketch and defense of a science of manipulations and their effects on physical systems. This is, I claim, the best way to make sense of thermodynamics as it is found in textbooks and as it is practiced. I call this science thermo-dynamics (with hyphen), or

T h e t a D e l t a^{c s}

, for short, to highlight that it may be different from the science of thermodynamics, as the reader conceives it. Even if one is not convinced that it is the best way to make sense of thermodynamics as it is practiced, it should be non-controversial that

T h e t a D e l t a^{c s}

is a legitimate science. An upshot of the discussion is a clarification of the roles of the Gibbs and von Neumann entropies. Given the definition of statistical thermo-dynamic entropy, it can be proven that, under the assumption of availability of thermodynamically reversible processes, these functions are the unique (up to an additive constant) functions that represent thermo-dynamic entropy. Light is also shed on the use of coarse-grained entropies.}

Review text

The paper follows a philosophical attitude, where the departure point is a view that the classical thermodynamics may not be a legitimate theory of fundamental physiscs, but rather a theory of how manipulations of a physical system may be used to obtain desired effects, like, e.g., the mechanical work. In fact, following the author's own words: ``This article is a sketch and defense of a science of manipulations and their effects on physical systems. I call this science thermo-dynamics (with hyphen) to highlight that it may be different from the science of thermodynamics, as the reader conceives it. A core of the reasoning is a distinction between two modes of energy transfer between physical systems: as heat, and as work. This is encoded in the title abbreviation, coming from the greek ``theromotia-heat, denoted \(\Theta \) and dynamics, denoted \(\Delta \). The scope of the presentation is limited to ``the zeroth, first, second, and (in the quantum context) third laws of thermodynamics, all of which were designated laws of thermodynamics by 1914 at the latest. ``A thermo-dynamic theory involves treating certain variables as manipulable, and has to do with the responses of physical systems to manipulations of those variables. A designation of certain variables as manipulable is not something that appears in, or supervenes on, fundamental physics; it must be added. For this reason, \(\Theta \Delta ^{cs}\) is not and cannot be a comprehensive or fundamental physical theory. As such, the paper may be regarded as intellectually provocative, invoking a complementary view upon thermodynamic energy transfer, where the notion of thermodynamic reversibility of various processes is intentionally abandoned. No mathematical novelties can be reported.

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