Perspective on Physical Interpretations of Rényi Entropy in Statistical Mechanics

Abstract: R\'enyi entropy is a one-parameter generalization of Shannon entropy, which has been used in various fields of physics. Despite its wide applicability, the physical interpretations of the R\'enyi entropy are not widely known. In this paper, we discuss some basic properties of the R\'enyi entropy relevant to physics, in particular statistical mechanics, and its physical interpretations using free energy, replicas, work, and large deviation.