Thermodynamic Theory of Macrosystems: Entropy Production as a Metric

The article considers the description of a macrosystem in terms that do not depend on the nature of the macrosystem. The results obtained can be used to describe macrosystem models of thermodynamic processes, and to create interdisciplinary models that take into account interactions of various nature. The macrosystem model is based on its representation in the form of a self-similar coloured oriented multigraph, for each node of which the equation of state is fulfilled, which connects extensive variables. One of the extensive variables is entropy, the maximum of which corresponds to the state of equilibrium. For processes in which fluxes are linearly dependent on driving forces, Onsager's relations are shown to be true, which makes it possible to prove that in the space of stationary processes, entropy production in a closed macrosystem is a metric similar to the Mahalanobis metric, which determines the distance between processes. Zero in such a space are reversible processes, thus the production of entropy shows the degree of irreversibility, as the distance from a researched process to a reversible one.