A recent result, relating the (irreversible) work performed on a system during a non-quasistatic process, to the Helmholtz free energy difference between two equilibrium states of the system, is discussed. A proof of this result is given for the special case when the evolution of the system in question is modelled by a Langevin equation in configuration space. My purpose in this talk is to pres...

we study the equilibrium states for an energy functional with a parametric force field on a region of a surface. consideration of free equilibrium states is based on lyusternik - schnirelman's and skrypnik's variational methods. consideration of equilibrium states under a constraint of geometrical character is based on an analog of skrypnik's method, described in cite{vyr3}. in local coordinate...

We define belief-free equilibria in two-player games with incomplete information as sequential equilibria for which players' continuation strategies are best replies after every history, independently of their beliefs about the state of nature. We characterize a set of payoffs that includes all belief-free equilibrium payoffs. Conversely, any payoff in the interior of this set is a belief-free ...

We provide an analytical study on the stability of equilibria of rigid rodlike nematic liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) governed by the Smoluchowski equation with the Maier-Saupe intermolecular potential. We simplify the expression of the free energy of an orientational distribution function of rodlike LCP molecules by properly selecting a coordinate system and then investigate its stability ...

Based on a nonequilibrium thermodynamic description of the coupled bioenergetic processes of ATP synthesis, I show for the first time that the entropy production depends on the physical system of coupling; completely delocalized coupling leads to minimum rate of entropy production in the steady state. Further, when nonlinear processes are considered, the free energy dissipation exhibits a minim...

We discuss the response of aging systems with short-range interactions to a class of random perturbations. Although these systems are out of equilibrium, the limit value of the free energy at long times is equal to the equilibrium free energy. By exploiting this fact, we define a new order parameter function, and we relate it to the ratio between response and fluctuation, which is in principle ...

Recent works on evaporation and condensation demonstrate that even these simplest irreversible processes, studied for over 100 years, are not well understood. In the case of a liquid evaporating into its vapor, the liquid temperature is constant during evaporation and the evaporation flux is governed by the heat transfer from the hotter vapor into the colder liquid. Whether liquid evaporates in...

1. Introduction. In the linear range a general theory of thermoelasticity based on irreversible thermodynamics was developed and discussed extensively in some earlier work ([3], [4], [9]). It was assumed that the elastic solid is initially in a stress-free equilibrium state at uniform temperature. Completely linearized perturbations in the vicinity of this equilibrium state are then analyzed as...