Synergetik: Nichtgleichgewichte,Phasenübergänge und Selbstorganisation

The formation of ordered structures seems to contradict fundamental principles of physics according to which disorder should ever increase. Synergetics deals with the question how in spite of these laws structures can arise. We shall give a number of explicit examples. Large classes of ordered states in open systems are determined by a new principle based on the growth rates of collective configurations. In contrast, concepts such as entropy or entropy production are inadequate to treat such phenomena.