Open Access
October, 2015 Entropy and its many Avatars
Srinivasa R. S. VARADHAN
J. Math. Soc. Japan 67(4): 1845-1857 (October, 2015). DOI: 10.2969/jmsj/06741845

Abstract

Entropy was first introduced in 1865 by Rudolf Clausius in his study of the connection between work and heat. A mathematical definition was given by Boltzmann as the logarithm of the number of micro states that corresponds to a macro state. It plays important roles in statistical mechanics, in the theory of large deviations in probability, as an invariant in ergodic theory and as a useful tool in communication theory. This article explores some of the connections between these different contexts.

Citation

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Srinivasa R. S. VARADHAN. "Entropy and its many Avatars." J. Math. Soc. Japan 67 (4) 1845 - 1857, October, 2015. https://doi.org/10.2969/jmsj/06741845

Information

Published: October, 2015
First available in Project Euclid: 27 October 2015

zbMATH: 1357.94050
MathSciNet: MR3417516
Digital Object Identifier: 10.2969/jmsj/06741845

Subjects:
Primary: 60-02
Secondary: 37A35 , 94A17

Keywords: Entropy , Information , large deviations

Rights: Copyright © 2015 Mathematical Society of Japan

Vol.67 • No. 4 • October, 2015
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