THERMODYNAMICS OF HIERARCHICAL SYSTEMS.

This paper attempts to unify the conceptual framework of thermodynamics and the theory of hierarchical systems. The fundamental notions of thermodynamic structures, and the connection between catastrophe theory and thermodynamic stability theory, were investigated. Nonthermodynamic systems based on thermodynamics may be analyzed at different hierarchical levels. In such systems the flow of energy and material is accompanied by a flow of essential information, the thermodynamic process taking place at the 'higher level' of the hierarchy. Neurobiological and industrial chemical systems are considered as typical hierarchical systems.