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Information theory explanation of the fluctuation theorem, maximum entropy production and self-organized criticality in non-equilibrium stationary states

Roderick C. Dewar
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Abstract

Jaynes' information theory formalism of statistical mechanics is applied to the stationary states of open, non-equilibrium systems. The key result is the construction of the probability distribution for the underlying microscopic phase space trajectories. Three consequences of this result are then derived : the fluctuation theorem, the principle of maximum entropy production, and the emergence of self-organized criticality for flux-driven systems in the slowly-driven limit. The accumulating empirical evidence for these results lends support to Jaynes' formalism as a common predictive framework for equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.

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Roderick C. Dewar. 2002-12-13. Information theory explanation of the fluctuation theorem, maximum entropy production and self-organized criticality in non-equilibrium stationary states. https://doi.org/10.1088/0305-4470%2F36%2F3%2F303

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