We trace the development of the technical ideas showing that the Second Law of Thermodynamics became, over a Century ago, a general principle of reasoning, applicable to scienti c inference in other elds than thermodynamics. Both the logic and the procedure of our present maximum entropy applications are easily recognized in the methods for predicting equilibrium conditions introduced by Gibbs ...

We provide a characterization of energy in the form of exchanged heat and work between two interacting constituents of a closed, bipartite, correlated quantum system. By defining a binding energy we derive a consistent quantum formulation of the first law of thermodynamics, in which the role of correlations becomes evident, and this formulation reduces to the standard classical picture in relev...

We present experimental evidence for a strong analogy between quasi-2D uniform non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) of excited granular materials and equilibrium thermodynamics. Under isochoric conditions we find that the structure of granular NESS, as measured by the radial distribution function, the bond order parameter, and the distribution of Voronoi cells, is the same as that found in equi...

The law of temporal hierarchies of the biological world allows us to pick out of the biomass quasiclosed thermodynamic systems of a specific hierarchy. The use of this law of Nature as applied to supramolecular structures of organisms allows us the opportunity of using the methods of equilibrium supramolecular thermodynamics in the examination of open living systems. It has been proven that the...

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to thermodynamics designed specifically for the needs of the systems biologist. It departs from modern treatments in paying attention to the macroscopic aspects of the subjects rather than focusing purely on the statistical character of the facts. It also makes a real effort to communicate certain lesser known aspects of the subject that h...

Following the conjectured duality between near-horizon NS5-branes and little string theory, the string-corrected thermodynamics of near-horizon NS5-branes is studied and found to agree with the statistical thermodynamics of a 5+1 dimensional supersymmetric string theory near the Hagedorn temperature. Specifically, tree-level corrections to the temperature are argued to vanish, in accordance wit...

In this thesis properties and the origin of black hole entropy are investigated from various points of view. First, laws of black hole thermodynamics are reviewed. In particular, the first and generalized second laws are investigated in detail. It is in these laws that the black hole entropy plays key roles. Next, three candidates for the origin of the black hole entropy are analyzed: the D-bra...

In this work, we consider the choice of a system suitable for the formulation of principles in nonequilibrium thermodynamics. It is argued that an isolated system is a much better candidate than a system in contact with a bath. In other words, relaxation processes rather than stationary processes are more appropriate for the formulation of principles in nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Arguing th...