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Topological Torsion and Thermodynamic Irreversibility
The concept ot thermodynamic irreversibility can be put into correspondence with
a Topological Torsion vector that has a divergence anomaly. The physical
systems investigated are presumed to be describable by a 1-form of Action, and
the evolutionary processes are represented by contravariant vector fields. The
unique direction field generated by the topological torsion n-1 form can be
shown to represent a process for which the 1-form of heat does not admit an
integrating factor. Hence such processes are irreversible. Such torsion
direction fields are uniquely defined on a symplectic manifold of dimension 2n+2
and have the property that they decay to singular points which form contact
manifolds of dimension 2n+1. Examples in plasma and hydrodynamic situations are
given.
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