Special Issue "What Is Maximum Entropy Production and How Should We Apply It?"

Guest Editor
Dr. James Dyke
Max Planck Institut für Biogeochemie, Hans Knöll Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
E-Mail:

Guest Editor
Dr. Axel Kleidon
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Biogeochemie, Postfach 10 01 64, 07701 Jena, Germany
Website: http://gaia.mpg.de/
E-Mail:
Interests: biodiversity; maximum entropy production; thermodynamics and optimality in the Earth system; Gaia hypothesis; global dynamic vegetation models

Dear Colleagues,

The proposed principle of Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) states that the steady state of open thermodynamic systems with sufficient degrees of freedom are maintained in a state at which the production of entropy is maximized given the constraints of the system. Similar/related principles have a long history, e.g. the maximum power principle (e.g. applied to biological systems by Lotka in 1922). Recently, it has gained increased attention, and theoretical progress has been made as reflected by a series of papers by Dewar on an information theoretical derivation of this principle. This raises questions about how this principle should be interpreted and applied. This special section would focus on different interpretations by some of the leading researchers in this field.

Format:

- scope: to provide a set of essays to illustrate the different views on the justification and application of the proposed principle of Maximum Entropy Production (MEP).

- motivation: the motivation for the issue comes out of a discussion at a recent workshop held in May 2009 at the Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie in Jena, Germany, on the topic of “Maximum Entropy Production in the Earth System”. This discusion illustrated needs for clarification and interpretation of the different view angles of MEP (MaxEnt interpretation vs. thermodynamic application). The invited and contributed essays of this special section would help to clarify this important theoretical foundation.

James Dyke, Ph. D.
Axel Kleidon, Ph. D.
Guest Editors

Submission

All papers should be submitted to entropy@mdpi.org with copy to the guest editor. To be published continuously until the deadline and papers will be listed together at the special websites. Both, research articles and review articles are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editors for announcment on this website.

Submitted papers should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers are available on the Instructions for Authors page. Entropy is an international peer-reviewed quarterly journal published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a paper. Open Access publication fees are 800 CHF per paper. English correction fees (250 CHF) will be added in certain cases (1050 CHF per paper for those papers that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.).