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A general information theoretical proof for the second law of thermodynamics

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Abstract

It is shown that the conservation and the non-additivity of the information, together with the additivity of the entropy, make the entropy increase in an isolated system. The collapse of the entangled quantum state offers an example of the information non-additivity. Nevertheless, the non-additivity of information is also true in other fields in which the interaction information is important. Examples are classical statistical mechanics, social statistics and financial processes. The second law of thermodynamics is thus proven in its most general form. It is exactly true not only in quantum and classical physics but also in other processes in which the information is conservative and non-additive.

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Correspondence to QiRen Zhang.

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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10305001)

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Zhang, Q. A general information theoretical proof for the second law of thermodynamics. Sci. China Ser. G-Phys. Mech. Astron. 51, 813–816 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-008-0085-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-008-0085-7

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