Extremum principles for irreversible processes

Hamilton’s extremum principle is a powerful mathematical tool in classical mechanics. Onsager’s extremum principle may play a similar role in irreversible thermodynamics and may also become a valuable tool. His principle may formally be regarded as a principle of maximum rate of entropy production but does not have a clear physical interpretation. Prigogine’s principle of minimum rate of entropy production has a physical interpretation when it applies, but is not strictly valid except for a very special case.