[Fis] breach of symmetry and entropy decrease

Dear colleagues,
The theme "Information and Entropy" is very intriguing and I follow this
FIS discussion with great interest. There are so many interesting issues
and messages attracting attention: different interpretations of
information and entropy, different approach to life and mind, "disorder
of the sciences" and teleology of entropy. The latter problem looks
enough natural. Why can we see an order and have an information if the
total entropy can only increase according to the law of Nature? There is
important question, why this second law of thermodynamics holds the
supreme position among the laws of Nature in spite of this obvious
contradictions. This problem shows that an belief is the basis of our
knowledge. The Carnot's principle "which we call since Clausius time the
second law of thermodynamics", emerged because of the belief in
impossibility of perpetuum mobile. It is enough obvious that perpetuum
mobile can be impossible only if some processes are irreversible.
Therefore irreversibility of some thermodynamics processes was
postulated. (This postulate may be considered as most common formulation
of the second law, see the article "The Second Law Mystique" Entropy
2004, 6, p.1 at http://www.mdpi.net/entropy/list04.htm.) Clausius
introduced the entropy as the value which can only increase in any
closed thermodynamic system and which describes the thermodynamic
irreversibility.

The connection between entropy and information is conditioned by the
probabilistic substantiation of the thermodynamics irreversibility
proposed by Maxwell and Boltzmann. This substantiation, put by Maxwell
into the words: "the second law is drawn from our experience of bodies
consisting of an immense number of molecules", predominated up to now.
But only this experience is not enough for the defence of the absolute
status of the second law from the experience of the perpetual motion,
i.e. the motion of atoms, molecules and small Brownian particles under
equilibrium condition. It is necessary to postulate absolute randomness
of any perpetual motion. This postulate was used both in the
Maxwell-Boltzmann theory and the Brownian motion theory by Einstein,
Smoluchowski and others. It can be substantiated in the limits of
classical of classical mechanics but it is not correct according to
quantum mechanics, see http://arXiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0404717. It is
important that violation of the second law because of violation of the
randomness postulate should be connected with breach of an intrinsic
symmetry, see the abstract of my talk 29 July 2004 in the Programme of
FQMT04 at http://www.fzu.cz/activities/conferences/fqmt04/ (I can send a
text of the talk one who wishes).

I would like to draw your attention to the article "The Decrease in
Entropy via Fluctuations", Entropy 2004, 6, p.38-49 by Lyndsay Gordon
who challenges the deep connection between the second law and
information implied in the Szilard's device and Landauer's principle.
 
Best regards,
Alexey
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Received on Wed Jun 23 19:22:35 2004