Hamiltonian thermodynamics on symplectic manifolds

Abstract: We describe a symplectic approach to thermodynamics in which thermodynamic transformations are described by Hamiltonian dynamics on thermodynamic spaces. By identifying the spaces of equilibrium states with Lagrangian submanifolds of a symplectic manifold, we construct a Hamiltonian description of thermodynamic processes where the space of equilibrium states of a system in a certain ensemble is the level set on which the Hamiltonian takes a constant value. In particular, we work out two explicit examples involving the ideal gas. Finally, we describe a Hamiltonian approach towards constructing maps between related thermodynamic systems, e.g., the ideal (non-interacting) gas and interacting gases.