Variational principles and thermodynamics

Abstract

Variational principles play a fundamental role in deriving evolution equations of physics. They are working well in case of nondissipative evolution but for dissipative systems they are not unique, not predictive and not constructive. With methods of modern nonequilibrium thermodynamics, one can derive evolution equations for dissipative phenomena and, surprisingly, can also reproduce the Euler-Lagrange form of the evolution equations for ideal processes. In this work, we examine some demonstrative examples and compare thermodynamic and variational techniques. Then, we argue that instead of searching for variational principles for dissipative systems, a different program can be more fruitful: the second law alone can be an effective tool to construct both dissipative and nondissipative evolution equations.