This book introduces and discusses both the fundamental aspects and the
measurability of applications of time-symmetric kinetic quantities,
outlining the features that constitute the non-dissipative branch of
non-equilibrium physics.
These specific features of non-equilibrium dynamics have largely been
ignored in standard statistical mechanics texts. This introductory-level
book offers novel material that does not take the traditional line of
extending standard thermodynamics to the irreversible domain.
It shows that although stationary dissipation is essentially equivalent
with steady non-equilibrium and ubiquitous in complex phenomena,
non-equilibrium is not determined solely by the time-antisymmetric
sector of energy-entropy considerations. While this should not be very
surprising, this book provides timely, simple reminders of the role of
time-symmetric and kinetic aspects in the construction of
non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.