Group structure as a foundation for entropies

Abstract

Entropy can signify different things: For instance, heat transfer in thermodynamics or a measure of information in data analysis. Many entropies have been introduced and it can be difficult to ascertain their different importance and merits. Here we consider entropy in an abstract sense, as a functional on a probability space and we review how being able to handle the trivial case of non-interacting systems together with the subtle requirement of extensivity allows a systematic classification of the functional form.

16 pages, no figures