English

Entropy as Noether charge for quasistatic gradient flow

Statistical Mechanics 2025-04-28 v3

Abstract

Entropy increase is fundamentally related to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry. By adding the 'extra dimension' associated with thermodynamic forces, we extend that discrete symmetry to a continuous symmetry for the dynamical fluctuations around (nonlinear) gradient flow. The latter connects macroscopic equilibrium conditions upon introducing a quasistatic protocol of control parameters. The entropy state function becomes the Noether charge. As a result, and following ideas expressed by Shin-ichi Sasa and co-workers, the adiabatic invariance of the entropy, part of the Clausius heat theorem, gets connected with the Noether theorem.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2406.16819,
  title  = {Entropy as Noether charge for quasistatic gradient flow},
  author = {Aaron Beyen and Christian Maes},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.16819},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

29 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-28T17:17:33.604Z