INFORMATION-THEORY IN THE STUDY OF ANISOTROPIC RADIATION

Information theory is used to perform a thermodynamic study of nonequi librium anisotropic radiation. We limit our analysis to a second-order truncation of the moments, obtaining a distribution function which le ads to a natural closure of the hierarchy of radiative transfer equati ons in the so-called variable Eddington factor scheme.;Some Eddington factors appearing in the literature can be recovered as particular cas es of our two-parameter Eddington factor. We focus our attention on th e study of the thermodynamic properties of such systems and relate it to recent nonequilibrium thermodynamic theories. Finally, we comment o n the possibility of introducing a nonequilibrium chemical potential f or photons.