%0 Journal Article
%T A generalization of Onsager's reciprocity relations to gradient flows with nonlinear mobility
%A A. Mielke
%A M. A. Peletier
%A D. R. M. Renger
%J Mathematics
%D 2015
%I arXiv
%X Onsager's 1931 `reciprocity relations' result connects microscopic time-reversibility with a symmetry property of corresponding macroscopic evolution equations. Among the many consequences is a variational characterization of the macroscopic evolution equation as a gradient-flow, steepest-ascent, or maximal-entropy-production equation. Onsager's original theorem is limited to close-to-equilibrium situations, with a Gaussian invariant measure and a linear macroscopic evolution. In this paper we generalize this result beyond these limitations, and show how the microscopic time-reversibility leads to natural generalized symmetry conditions, which take the form of generalized gradient flows.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.06219v1