Unified variational theory of reversible and irreversible dynamics — Discovery of dissipative Lagrangians weighted in time

Abstract

Reversible dynamics is well-known to obey variational principles based on the action being the time integral of a Lagrangian with time-reversal symmetry. The purpose of the present paper is to find dissipative Lagrangians giving variational principles in dissipative dynamics with broken time-reversal symmetry. Conceptually the present theory insists on new Least Dissipation & Work Principles (LDWP) based on variational integrals weighted in time, in order to unify variational principles of physics including irreversible processes on many-body systems. This is also closely related to the present author’s theory of entropy production in Kubo’s scheme of transport phenomena and all nonlinear responses beyond. Through these investigations, we can understand the meaning (as a variational integral) of the action of reversible dynamics.