Extended Irreversible Thermodynamics

Modern technology strives towards higher speed, higher power, and higher miniaturiza- tion. In these conditions, the classical transport equations must be updated in order to incorporate memory, non-local, and non-linear effects. These effects have been studied by starting from microscopic models which are specific to particular systems and whose solution requires mathematical approximations and boundary conditions. The aim of extended irreversible thermodynamics is to complement such microscopic analyses with a macroscopic framework which could play, with respect to the generalized trans- port equations incorporating the aforementioned effects, a role similar to the one played by classical thermodynamics with respect to the classical transport equations. Such a macroscopic framework is particularly useful for comparing the results obtained from various microscopic models, for placing some restrictions on the range of validity of different approximations, and for settling a discussion on some basic concepts that arise unavoidably in a formalism that crosses the frontiers of the local-equilibrium theory. Extended irreversible thermodynamics is not at all in conflict with the classical theory of non-equilibrium thermodynamics and rational thermodynamics but must be viewed as a relevant extension of the scope of these descriptions. For the student or the researcher, it may be stimulating to go beyond the classical theories and to enter a of new ideas, new applications, and new problems.