The book focuses on the study of the temporal behavior of complex many-particle systems. The phenomenon of time and its role in the temporal evolution of complex systems is a remaining mystery. The book presents the necessity of the interdisciplinary point of view regarding on the phenomenon of time.
The aim of the present study is to summarize and formulate in a concise but clear form the trends and approaches to the concept of time from a broad interdisciplinary perspective exposing tersely the complementary approaches and theories of time in the context of thermodynamics, statistical physics, cosmology, theory of information, biology and biophysics, including the problem of time and aging. Various approaches to the problem show that time is an extraordinarily interdisciplinary and multifaceted underlying notion which plays an extremely important role in various natural complex processes.
Contents:
- The Enigma of Time
- The Physics of Time
- Time in Classical and Quantum Mechanics
- The Entropy Concept
- Methods of Statistical Mechanics
- The Exotic Thermodynamic States
- Entropy: Development and Generalization
- Irreversibility and Natural Processes
- Temporal Evolution and Arrow of Time
- The Physics of Non-equilibrium Processes
- Life, Complexity and Time
- Epilogue
Readership: Academic, physicists, chemists, biologists, historian of sciences, general public.
Key Features:
- A self-contained and thorough presentation of the long-term researches that have been carried out in the fields of irreversible thermodynamics and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics using the approach of the N N Bogoliubov's school
- Includes the description of fundamental concepts and techniques of physics of irreversible processes, including recent developments and actual applications
- Provides also an overview that introduces main notions and concepts of the temporal behavior of complex many-particle physical processes
- Considers various actual systems having big significance for physics and studies of life
- Combines the features of textbook and research monograph, written as an interdisciplinary monograph
- Provides a detailed account of a select group of results and developments in the nonequilibrium statistical mechanics from a multidisciplinary approach
- Emphasizes concepts and notions which are used in nonequilibrium statistical thermodynamics, especially for the concept of entropy
- Presents a broad selection of important topics, including questions of temporal behavior of numerous natural processes, including biological processes, such as ageing and the origin of life
- Highlights the logical structure of the theory and consistent character of considerations
- Includes an extensive bibliography and a detailed Index
