Entropy and the Time Evolution of Macroscopic Systems

• Summarizes the maximum-entropy approach to statistical mechanics.
• Presents an up-to-date description of the unambiguous extension of entropy to time-dependent processes.
• Brings a unique blending of probability, information, and physics to the subject.
• Provides an authoritative reference and corrects published mis-information about entropy and the foundations of both statistical mechanics and thermodynamics.

Readership: Graduate students and researchers in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and chemical engineering.

Walter T. Grandy, Jr., Department of Physics, University of Wyoming

"Written in an accessible style, the book makes numerous little-known connections between macroscopic and microscopic expressions for entropy and entropy production...Filled with many examples, Grandys thought-provoking exposition will be of interest for years to come. I would recommend it to any serious student of statistical physics." - P. Salamon, Physics Today

1: Introduction
2: Some Clarification from Another Direction
3: The Probability Connection
4: Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics
5: The Presumed Extensivity of Entropy
6: Nonequilibrium States
7: Steady-State Processes
8: Sources and Time-Dependent Proceses
9: Thermal Driving
10: Application to Fluid Dynamics
11: Irreversibility, Relaxation, and the Approach to Equilibrium
12: Entropy Production and Dissipation Rates
A: Perturbation Theory
B: Dissipative Currents and Galilean Invariance
C: Analytic Continuation of Covariance Functions