Within the scope of a thermodynamic description using the maximum entropy production principle, transitions from one nonequilibrium (kinetic) regime to another are considered. It is shown that in the case when power-law dependencies of thermodynamic flux on force are similar for two regimes, only a transition accompanied by a positive jump of thermodynamic flux is possible between them. It is found that the difference in powers of the dependencies of thermodynamic fluxes on forces results in a number of interesting nonequilibrium transitions between kinetic regimes, including the reentrant one with a negative jump of thermodynamic flux.

• Received 11 April 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.84.011113