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Thermodynamics as a science of symmetry

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Abstract

A new interpretation of thermodynamics is advanced; thermodynamics is the study of those properties of macroscopic matter that follow from the symmetry properties of physical laws, mediated through the statistics of large systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

    Herbert Callen

  2. Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Herbert Callen

Authors
  1. Herbert Callen
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Additional information

The support of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. This work has also been supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

Perrnanent address (on leave 1972–73 to Hebrew University of Jerusalem).

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Callen, H. Thermodynamics as a science of symmetry. Found Phys 4, 423–443 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708519

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00708519

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