Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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MP: Fachverband Theoretische und Mathematische Grundlagen der Physik

MP 1: Statistische Mechanik

MP 1.4: Talk

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 10:30–10:50, HFT-FT 101

The geometrisation of thermodynamics via contact geometry — •Christine Gruber¹, Alessandro Bravetti², and Hernando Quevedo² — ¹Institut für Physik, Carl-v.-Ossietzky-Universität, Oldenburg, Deutschland — ²Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autonoma di Mexico, Mexico D.F., Mexico

We aim at developing a geometrical formulation of thermodynamics by employing contact geometry and associated notions. A geometric formulation of thermodynamics is of interest for several reasons. Firstly, geometry serves as a language in which every physical theory can be formulated, it provides geometric tools and notions which can be employed to infer new principles and ideas, and in general promotes mathematical beauty in physics. Secondly, a geometrisation of thermodynamical theories would help to systemize and unify the phenomenologically orientated formulations and derivations of thermodynamical phenomena and potentially be of great use in the description of non-equilibrium scenarios. And finally, due to the fundamental connection of the laws of black hole thermodynamics with their geometry, there is the hope that a geometric theory of thermodynamics could lead to new insights into black hole thermodynamics and the physical laws governing the physics of black holes.

In this talk, we will focus on the possible application of contact geometry and its geometric flows in non-equilibrium thermodynamics.