A Mesoscopic Analysis for Diffusion Transport Phenomena

Abstract

A mesoscopic study of linear irreversible transport phenomena is proposed. This chapter takes a phenomenological and statistical approach to non-equilibrium phenomena. At thermodynamic equilibrium, the intensive physical quantities of a system are uniform in space and time. These quantities can be defined at any point and at any time, and are referred to as local thermodynamic equilibrium. Otherwise, the system is out of thermodynamic equilibrium. This is the case for all irreversible phenomena, which are generally induced by an external input of energy and/or matter to the system. In this chapter, we will be focusing on the phenomenon of transport, which is a key process in non-equilibrium physics. There are various transport phenomena. Each is characterized by macroscopic properties. A microscopic approach is taken to study the transport phenomena. However, we are particularly interested in the phenomenon of particle diffusion and of the thermal diffusion.