Mesoscopic non-equilibrium thermodynamics and selected applications

Abstract

Mesoscopic Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics (MNET) is a theory characterized by the inclusion of a probability density as a thermodynamic variable in the description of a system far from equilibrium. This theory applies to time and length scales which are neither microscopic nor macroscopic. Thus, in these intermediated scales a wide variety of systems (non-aged systems) are properly described. MNET is based on the Gibbs-entropy functional postulate and the conservation of probability. This fact enables us to describe the dynamics of the system in terms of Fokker-Planck equations. As an application, the negative viscosity effect in ferrofluids is analyzed