Renyi Entropy and Free Energy

John C. Baez

Published 2011-02-10, updated 2022-05-17Version 4

The Renyi entropy is a generalization of the usual concept of entropy which depends on a parameter q. In fact, Renyi entropy is closely related to free energy. Suppose we start with a system in thermal equilibrium and then suddenly divide the temperature by q. Then the maximum amount of work the system can do as it moves to equilibrium at the new temperature, divided by the change in temperature, equals the system's Renyi entropy in its original state. This result applies to both classical and quantum systems. Mathematically, we can express this result as follows: the Renyi entropy of a system in thermal equilibrium is minus the "1/q-derivative" of its free energy with respect to temperature. This shows that Renyi entropy is a q-deformation of the usual concept of entropy.