Reformulation of Classical Thermodynamics from Information Theory

TL;DR

This paper reformulates classical thermodynamics using information theory concepts, replacing entropy with information and redefining thermodynamic laws in terms of information measures, providing clearer insights and potential educational benefits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel information-theoretic formulation of thermodynamics, redefining key concepts and laws with a focus on information rather than entropy, and applies it to ideal gases.

Findings

New formulation clarifies thermodynamic principles using information theory.

Defined a modified ideal gas constant related to information energy cost.

Provides insights into system evolution through information-centric perspective.

Abstract

In this study, we present a reformulation of classical equilibrium thermodynamics by replacing the obscure and ambiguous concept of entropy with the clear and intuitive concept of information stored in a thermodynamic system. Specifically, we rewrite the laws of thermodynamics in the mathematical terminology borrowed from information theory with an emphasis on information instead of entropy and on binary logarithm instead of natural one. We also define a modified ideal gas constant denoted as $\mathcal{R}$ that quantifies the energy cost of storing or retrieving a mole of information. Moreover an application to the ideal gas is carried and new insight on the evolution of the system is acquired. This new formulation might serve as a basis to teaching thermodynamics, where one deals with the concept of energy and information both stored in a thermodynamic system and avoids the lack of cognitive representations inherent in the concept of entropy.