STOCHASTIC BASIS FOR ISOTHERMAL EQUILIBRIUM AND NON-EQUILIBRIUM CHEMICAL THERMODYNAMICS

The equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermodynamics of diffusing chemically reacting systems is shown to be derivable from a stochastic master equation basis. The simple combinatorial form of transition probabilities is shown to give the ideal system limit of chemical thermodynamics in equilibrium situation, and thus provide the natural generalization of these to nonequilibrium situations. © 1979 American Institute of Physics.