The Space of Physical Frameworks (Part 3)

John Carlos Baez

Wed Sep 11 2024

In Part 1, I explained how statistical mechanics is connected to a rig whose operations depend on a real parameter $\beta$ and approach the ‘tropical rig’, with operations $\min$ and $+,$ as $\beta \to +\infty.$ I explained my hope that if we take equations from classical statistical mechanics, expressed in terms of this $\beta$ -dependent rig, and let $\beta \to +\infty,$ we get equations in thermodynamics. That’s what I’m slowly trying to show.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2024/09/11/the-space-of-physical-frameworks-part-3/