Jean-Marie Souriau's Symplectic Foliation Model of Sadi Carnot's Thermodynamics.

Abstract

The explanation of thermodynamics through geometric models was initiated by seminal figures such as Carnot, Gibbs, Duhem, Reeb, and Carathéodory. Only recently, however, has the symplectic foliation model, introduced within the domain of geometric statistical mechanics, provided a geometric definition of entropy as an invariant Casimir function on symplectic leaves-specifically, the coadjoint orbits of the Lie group acting on the system, where these orbits are interpreted as level sets of entropy. We present a symplectic foliation interpretation of thermodynamics, based on Jean-Marie Souriau's Lie group thermodynamics. This model offers a Lie algebra cohomological characterization of entropy, viewed as an invariant Casimir function in the coadjoint representation. The dual space of the Lie algebra is foliated into coadjoint orbits, which are identified with the level sets of entropy. Within the framework of thermodynamics, dynamics on symplectic leaves-described by the Poisson bracket-are associated with non-dissipative phenomena. Conversely, on the transversal Riemannian foliation (defined by the level sets of energy), the dynamics, characterized by the metric flow bracket, induce entropy production as transitions occur from one symplectic leaf to another.