Methodological Considerations for the Thermodynamics of Complex Systems
A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Thermodynamics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2022) | Viewed by 227
Special Issue Editors
Interests: collective behavior; non-equilibrium thermodynamics; pattern formation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Since the mid-20th century, the tools of thermodynamics have been extended to the study of complex systems, and most ambitiously, living systems. Thermodynamics is increasingly understood to be the most appropriate discipline of physics to understand the processes endemic to biology and complex systems more broadly. In particular, variational principles based on entropy and Gibbs energy are increasingly applied to explain the process of self-organization in living organisms. However, such an approach invites the methodological and theoretical challenges of measuring such thermodynamic quantities in living systems. Due to complex systems being open to exchanges of energies and materials and often having dynamic configurations, system boundaries morph and are often ill-defined or ambiguous.
Moreover, while we may readily measure thermodynamic quantities such as temperature, pressure, and their variation at the macroscopic scale (e.g., the whole organism or a population), to what degree do such measures provide insight into critical processes within the system? Does a variational principle of maximizing entropy or minimizing Gibbs energy apply across scales in a complex system? How do statistical and more traditional macroscopic measures of such quantities compare in complex systems? These are important questions at the interface of biology, thermodynamics, and complexity science today, that require a critical examination.
We invite papers discussing the practical methodologies of thermodynamics in living and complex systems, including topics related to entropy, Gibbs energy, and direct and indirect calorimetry. We also welcome theoretical papers addressing such issues, or more generally, discussing the process of merging the physical and biological disciplines by using variational principles. Original research papers with an interdisciplinary focus across fields, including but not limited to physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, economics, and psychology, are particularly encouraged. Topical reviews that are authoritative and describe the present state of the art while elucidating the challenges are also welcome.
Dr. Atanu Chatterjee
Dr. Benjamin De Bari
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- entropy
- Gibb’s energy
- variational principle
- principle of stationary action
- thermodynamics
- complex system
- evolution
- pattern formation
- dissipative processes
- dissipative structures
- self-organization
