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ISSN Online: 2377-424X

International Heat Transfer Conference 12
August, 18-23, 2002, Grenoble, France

Entropy and information in heat conduction

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC12.190
6 pages

摘要

The relationship between entropy and information is studied in the context of heat conduction, assuming that a given information is contained in the initial temperature distribution over a rigid, insulated conductor; the temperature evolution is then analyzed as time goes by. From a mathematical point of view, a huge class of such functions exists that their weighted integral over the conductor volume is monotonically increasing with time; among these functions, the choice of the logarithm function, weighted with the heat capacity per volume unit of the conductor, yields the thermodynamic entropy. Thus, the integral properties of the above mentioned class of functions can be given a physical meaning, as they are applied to Thermodynamics. In the limit t → + ∞ entropy reaches a maximum, and the temperature distribution in the conductor becomes uniform, so that the initial information is lost. The relation between entropy and information is justified by the fact that they are ruled by the same mathematics, although they are not related on a physical basis.