Robustness of the second law of thermodynamics under generalizations of the maximum entropy method

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the fundamental laws of thermodynamics, including the Clausius inequality, remain valid even when the entropy measure is generalized beyond traditional forms, highlighting thermodynamics' universality.

Contribution

It proves the Clausius inequality holds for Bregman-type relative entropy, supporting the robustness of thermodynamics under entropy generalizations.

Findings

Clausius inequality is always valid with Bregman-type entropy

Thermodynamics remains consistent under generalized entropy forms

Supports the universality of thermodynamic laws

Abstract

It is shown that the laws of thermodynamics are extremely robust under generalizations of the form of entropy. Using the Bregman-type relative entropy, the Clausius inequality is proved to be always valid. This implies that thermodynamics is highly universal and does not rule out consistent generalization of the maximum entropy method.