Tsallis Entropy and Generalized Shannon Additivity

Abstract

The Tsallis entropy given for a positive parameter α can be considered as a generalization of the classical Shannon entropy. For the latter, corresponding to α = 1 , there exist many axiomatic characterizations. One of them based on the well-known Khinchin-Shannon axioms has been simplified several times and adapted to Tsallis entropy, where the axiom of (generalized) Shannon additivity is playing a central role. The main aim of this paper is to discuss this axiom in the context of Tsallis entropy. We show that it is sufficient for characterizing Tsallis entropy, with the exceptions of cases α = 1 , 2 discussed separately.