Application of Thermodynamics to the Reduction of Data Generated by a Non-Standard System

Abstract

In traditional thermodynamical and statistical-mechanical approaches one has (some) detailed knowledge of the principles governing the microdynamics of a system. However in many instances we may not have a Hamiltonian or good information about the degrees of freedom (or, in a roughly complementary sense, the redundancies in observed data), but on the other hand we have access to a preponderance of raw data. The development outlined here is an attempt to apply the principles of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics generically to such cases.