The indefinite metric of R. Mrugala and the geometry of the thermodynamical phase space

Abstract

We study the indefinite metric $G$ in the contact phase space $(P,\theta )$ of a homogeneous thermodynamical system introduced by R. Mrugala. We calculate the curvature tensor, Killing vector fields, second fundamental form of Legendre submanifolds of $P$ - constitutive surfaces of different homogeneous thermodynamical systems. We established an isomorphism of the space $(P,\theta ,G)$ with the Heisenberg Lie group $H_n$ endowed with the right invariant contact structure and the right invariant indefinite metric. The lift $\tG$ of the metric $G$ to the symplectization $\tP$ of contact space $(P,\theta )$, its curvature properties, and its Killing vector fields are studied. Finally we introduce the "hyperbolic projectivization" of the space $(\tP,{\tilde θ}, \tG)$ that can be considered as the natural {\bf compactification} of the thermodynamical phase space $(P,\theta ,G).$