ON THE STRUCTURAL COMPATIBILITY OF A GENERAL FORMALISM FOR NONEQUILIBRIUM DYNAMICS WITH SPECIAL RELATIVITY

In the context of an imperfect fluid with heat flow we show that a rec ently developed formalism for nonequilibrium systems (GENERIC: general equation for the nonequilibrium reversible-irreversible coupling) is compatible with the structure of special relativity. An additional gen eralized thermal force variable, in a certain limit related to the hea t flux, needs to be introduced. By doing so, common features of GENERI C and extended irreversible thermodynamics are revealed, and a new set of equations for relativistic imperfect fluids is formulated. These e quations are compared to the classical first-order theory of Eckart, t he second-order theory of Israel, and the equations derived by relativ istic kinetic theory. The GENERIC generators of reversible and irrever sible dynamics, energy and entropy, occur as the time components of th e energy-momentum tensor and the entropy current four-vector, respecti vely. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.