Symmetry

Shu-Kun Lin

Traditional viewpoint

Higher symmetry is related to higher order, less entropy and less stability (See many textbooks of statistical mechanics. Particularly "Order out of Chaos" book by Prigogine school of thermodynamics)

Higher symmetry, higher entropy

Joe Rosen

Shu-Kun Lin
Book Review: Symmetry Rules: How Science and Nature Are Founded on Symmetry. By Joe Rosen. Springer: Berlin. 2008, XIV, 305 p. 86 illus., Hardcover. CHF 70. ISBN: 978-3-540-75972-0
Entropy 2008, 10, 55-57 (PDF format 28 K)
DOI: 10.3390/entropy-e10020055

Shu-Kun Lin

Shu-Kun Lin
Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI), Matthaeusstrasse 11, CH-4057 Basel, Switzerland; Tel. (+41) 79 322 3379; Fax: (+41) 61 302 8918; E-mail: [email protected]; http://www.mdpi.org/lin
Received: 13 March 2008 / Published: 17 March 2008
Commentary: Gibbs Paradox and the Concepts of Information, Symmetry, Similarity and Their Relationship
Entropy 2008, 10, 1-5 (PDF format 91 K); DOI: 10.3390/entropy-e10010001
http://arxiv.org/abs/0803.2571

Gibbs Paradox and Similarity Principle
Authors: Shu-Kun Lin
Comments: 14 pages, 10 figures, presented at MaxEnt2008 as an invited lecture.
Subjects: General Physics (physics.gen-ph); Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) http://arxiv.org/abs/0807.4314

Victor J. Stenger

Symmetry is in principle ugly

Shu-Kun Lin

Frequently cited books on symmetry

Symmetry definition

Notes on some symmetry books:
Icke, V. The Force of Symmetry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995, p.173.
Will the Universe live forever? ... The danger lies not in the need for absolute amounts of energy, but in the availability of energy differences. If there did not exist, everything would be in equilibrium and life would be impossible.

Elliott, J.P. and Dawber, P. G. (1979) Symmetry in Physics, Macmilan, London
This was the text book I used when I was learning group theory in 1982-1983 (two semesters at the physics department of China University of Science and Technology).
According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, symmetry is defined as '(Beauty resulting from) right proportion between the parts of the body or any whole, balance, congruity, harmony, keeping'.  [p1].


Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300)
Last change: 31 July 2008, Webmaster: [email protected]
First upload 27 January 2000, Dr. Shu-Kun Lin, [email protected]