Even for large nonequilibrium systems, local equilibrium subsystems in the presence of strong inhomogeneities may be very small. Such situations typically arise either in the presence of large gradients of temperature, velocity or pressure, or in transition zones between different phases. For small thermodynamic systems, the Euler equation of macroscopic thermodynamics does not hold. One less equation implies one additional degree of freedom, which is the hallmark of small thermodynamic systems. I would like to offer some remarks on the description and role of small local equilibrium subsystems in nonequilibrium thermodynamics.

中文翻译：

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在小的局部平衡系统上

即使对于大型非平衡系统，存在强不均匀性的局部平衡子系统也可能非常小。这种情况通常出现在存在大的温度、速度或压力梯度的情况下，或者出现在不同相之间的过渡区中。对于小型热力学系统，宏观热力学的欧拉方程不成立。少一个方程意味着多一个自由度，这是小型热力学系统的标志。我想就非平衡热力学中小型局部平衡子系统的描述和作用发表一些评论。