# On the time evolution of the entropic index

## Abstract

We adapt the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy to the non-extensive perspective recently advocated by Tsallis. The resulting expression is an average on the invariant distribution, which should be used to detect the genuine entropic index $`Q`$. We argue that the condition $`Q>1`$ is time dependent.

The importance of establishing a connection between dynamics and thermodynamics, and the difficulties with this ambitious purpose, are illustrated in a very attractive way in the recent book by Zaslavsky. Zaslavsky shows that the problems with this connection are not caused by the phenomenon of the Poincaré recurrences:In strongly chaotic systems the Poincaré recurrences are frequent and erratic, and result in a Poisson form for the distribution of recurrence times $`P_R(t)`$, namely a distribution with the following form ($`t>0`$)

$$P_R(t)\mathrm{exp}(h_{KS}t),$$
(1)   
where $`h_{KS}`$ denotes the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy, thereby proving the intimate connection between thermodynamics and mechanics in this case. The problem is that Eq.(1) rests on a condition of strong chaos that seems to be an exception rather than a rule. In general, the phase space of Hamiltonian systems is rarely totally chaotic. We cannot rule out the possibility that even in the case of seemingly chaotic systems small islands of stability lie on the phase space. The presence of an island of stability has impressive consequences. The region of separation between the deterministic island and the chaotic sea is fractal and self-similar. These properties result in stikness.This means that a generic trajectory with initial conditions located somewhere else, in the chaotic sea, through a fast process of diffusion will reach that surface and will stick to it for very extended sojourn times, with the distribution density $`\psi (t)`$. As a consequence , we have:

$$\underset{t\mathrm{}}{lim}P_R(t)=\psi (t)$$
(2)   
and

$$\underset{t\mathrm{}}{lim}\psi (t)=const/t^{(2+\beta )},$$
(3)   
with$`\beta >1`$. This results is compatible with the important theorem of Kac , according to which the mean value of the first moment of the distribution $`P_R(t)`$ is finite.

Zaslavsky also points out that two distinct billiards, each of them characterized by the dynamical properties necessary to realize the ergodic condition, when coupled to one another through a small hole in the wall that separates one billiard from the other, do not show any equilibration, at least for a very extended interval of time, and rather the trajectories seem to prefer one of the two billiards: An effect reminiscent of the action of Maxwell’s demon. This is the consequence of the breakdown of the thermodynamic condition of Eq.(1), provoked by the emergence of the slow tail of Eq.(3). Zaslavsky reaches the important conclusion “that chaotic dynamics exhibit some memory-type features which have to be suppressed in order to derive the laws of thermodynamics”. In this paper we want to prove that if such a memory erasing process exists, it must be perceived as the source of a transition from non-extensive to extensive thermodynamics rather than a transition from dynamics to thermodynamics.

First of all, let us stress that it is essential to use the Tsallis entropy  rather than the conventional Gibbs entropy. The Tsallis entropy reads

$$H_q=\frac{1𝑑x\mathrm{\Pi }(x)^q}{q1}.$$
(4)   
Note that this entropy is characterized by the index $`q`$ whose departure from the conventional value $`q=1`$ signals the thermodynamic effects of either long-range correlations in fractal dynamics or the non-local character of quantum mechanics . The function $`\mathrm{\Pi }(x)`$ denotes a distribution of a generic variable $`x>0`$, including the case where $`xt`$, with $`t`$ being a Poincaré recursion time or a time of sojourn at the border between chaotic sea and stability island. As earlier pointed out, this latter physical interpretation applies to the case where fractal dynamics result in a breakdown of the conventional condition of a finite time scale. It has been recently pointed out that the maximization of the entropy of Eq.(4) under the condition of the existence of a finite first moment, in line with the theorem of Kac, results in an inverse power law like that of Eq.(3).

As important as this result is, it would leave open the problem raised by Zaslavsky as to the connection between dynamics and thermodynamics, if, as it is correct to do, a special attention were to be devoted to the Kolmogorov-Sinai (KS) entropy. The study of the connection between dynamics and thermodynamics is making significant progresses along the lines of the seminal work of Krylov . Under his influence interesting attempts are currently being made at relating the KS entropy to the thermodynamical entropy. Of remarkable interest are the work of Gaspard, relating the KS entropy for a dilute gas to the standard thermodynamical entropy per unit volume of an ideal gas , and the more recent paper by Dzugutov, Aurell and Vulpiani , who express the KS entropy of a simple liquid in terms of the excess entropy, namely, the difference between the thermodynamical entropy and that of the ideal gas at the same thermodynamical state. Latora and Baranger studied the KS entropy of some maps, and for one of them, the cat map, they found analytical results. To properly appreciate the significance of the result obtained by these authors, we must note first of all that the KS entropy is a kind of entropy per unit of time, and that within this perspective the thermodynamical regime is expected to be expressed by a condition where the entropy growth is linear in time. Latora and Baranger found that at short times the regime of entropy increase, instead of being linear, is exponential in time. They also found that the KS regime, beginning at the end of this initial transient process, is not permanent and that after a given time a form of saturation takes place. All these are indications of a time evolution of the thermodynamical properties of the systems that are probably related to the main problem under discussion in this paper, namely the aging of the non-extensive thermodynamics of Tsallis .

A recent work by Tsallis, Plastino and Zheng illustrates the convenience of generalizing the KS procedure so as to make it efficient to study the thermodynamical properties of fractal dynamics. However, these authors adopt heuristic arguments and do not provide direct prescriptions on how to express the ensuing generalized version of KS entropy in terms of the invariant distribution. We refer to this generalized form of KS entropy as Kolmogorov-Sinai-Tsallis (KST) entropy. Its explicitly form reads:

$$H_q(N)=\frac{1_{\omega _0\mathrm{}\omega _{N1}}p(\omega _0\mathrm{}\omega _{N1})^q}{q1}.$$
(5)   
The numerical procedure to evaluate the KST entropy is the same as that we have to adopt to evaluate the KS entropy. For clarity we remind the reader about this prescription using the most elementary phase-space as possible, namely, a one-dimensional interval $`[0,1]`$ for the continuous variable $`x`$. This phase space is divided in $`l`$ cells with the same width $`1/l`$. Then we run the dynamical system under study. In this paper we shall focus on one-dimensional maps, thereby fitting the restriction of considering a one-dimensional phase space. However, our conclusions are not restricted to maps, since, as we shall see, these conclusions can be straightforwardly applied to the hamiltonian systems discussed by Zaslavsky.

Running a one-dimensional map means producing a sequel of values $`x_0\mathrm{}x_j\mathrm{}`$. Since any point of this one-dimensional trajectory is located in a given cell, producing a trajectory is equivalent to generating a sequel of values $`\omega _0\mathrm{}\omega _j\mathrm{}`$, where $`\omega _j`$ is the label of the cell occupied by the trajectory at the “time” $`j`$. After creating the sequence $`\omega _0\mathrm{}\omega _j\mathrm{}`$, which for simplicity we assume to be infinitely long, we proceed with the evaluation of the KST entropy as follows. We fix a window of size $`N`$ and we move the window along the sequence. For any window position we record the labels lying within the window, starting from the first, $`\omega _0`$, till to last, $`\omega _{N1}`$. Notice that the subscrits now refer to the order within the window, which must not be confused with the subscript denoting the position of the symbol in the whole sequence. Moving the window we can evaluate how many times the same combinations of symbols appears, and from this frequency we evaluate the probablity distribution $`p(\omega _0\mathrm{}\omega _{N1})`$ which is then used to evaluate the KST entropy of Eq.(5).

This kind of calculation has been recently  applied to evaluating the KST of a symbolic sequence obtained with a stochastic rule essentially equivalent to the intermittent dynamical process behind the one-dimensional processes of Lévy diffusion, and consequently, equivalent, in principle, to the processes studied in Ref.. We notice that the result of the research work of Ref. proved that the KST entropy is a linear function of N only when the proper entropic index $`q`$ is used. This entropic index turned out to fulfill the condition $`q1`$ in a striking conflict with the result of Ref., which predicts $`q>1`$. This paper, among other things, aims at shedding light into the reasons for this conflict, which will be duly accounted for.

The key way of settling the problems of determining the KST adopted in this paper is the same as that found by Pawelzik and Shuster to evaluate a different form of generalized KS entropy, and precisely that obtained by replacing the Gibbs entropy with the Rényi entropy, namely, the Kolmogorov-Sinai-Rényi (KSR) entropy. For the calculation of both the KST and KSR entropy it is essential to adopt the following very important relation:

$$\underset{i}{}p_i^q=\frac{1}{M}\underset{j=1}{\overset{M}{}}\stackrel{~}{p}_j^{q1}.$$
(6)   
which has been advocated by Pawelzik and Schuster .

This important relation is worth of some illustration. For any window of size $`N`$ we create a multidimensional phase space, of dimension $`N`$, associating any point $`x_j`$ of our original one-dimensional phase space with the $`N`$-dimensional point $`x_j,x_{j+1}\mathrm{}x_{j+N1}`$. This means that the original one-dimensional cells of size $`1/l`$ become $`N`$-dimensional squares with the same size. Any cell of the resulting $`N`$-dimensional phase space corresponds to one of the combinations $`\omega _j,\omega _{j+1}\mathrm{}\omega _{i+N1}`$ whose frequency must be properly evaluated to determine the distribution $`p(\omega _0\mathrm{}\omega _{N1})`$, which, in turn, is necessary for the calculation of the KST entropy of Eq.(5).The cells of this N-dimensional phase-space are properly labelled and the symbol $`p_i`$ appearing on the l.h.s. of Eq.(6) is the probability that a trajectory of this $`N`$-dimensional phase space running for an unlimited amount of time is found in the $`ith`$ cell. The term on the r.h.s. of Eq.(6) refers to a calculation procedure based on the adoption of a single trajectory running from the time $`j=1`$ to the time $`j=M`$. This trajectory carries with itself a $`N`$-dimensional square of size $`2/l`$, of which the $`N`$-multidimensional point $`x_j,x_{j+1}\mathrm{}x_{j+N1}`$ is the center. The symbol $`\stackrel{~}{p}_j`$ denotes the probability that the same trajectory, at earlier or later times, is found in this cell. The mathematical arguments invoked by Pawelzik and Schuster to explain why the power $`q1`$ on the r.h.s. of Eq.(6) corresponds to the power $`q`$ appearing on the l.h.s of the same equation has a transparent physical meaning: The trajectory carrying the moving $`N`$-dimensional cell of size $`2/l`$ explores with more (less) frequency the regions of the $`N`$-dimensional phase space of higher (lower) probability, so that the sum over the running index j implicitly includes the missing factor of $`\stackrel{~}{p}_j`$.

Rather than using the key relation of Eq.(6) to introduce a generalized correlation integral, as Pawelzik and Schuster propose, we now have recourse to an approach inspired to that of Tsallis et al.. To see how this procedure works let us consider, as an illustrative example, a window of size $`2`$ ($`N=1`$), making Eq.(6) read

$$\underset{i,j=1}{\overset{l}{}}p(\omega _i,\omega _j)^q=\frac{1}{M}\underset{j=1}{\overset{M}{}}\stackrel{~}{p}(x_j,x_{j+1})^{q1}.$$
(7)   
We note that

$$\stackrel{~}{p}(x_j,x_{j+1})=\rho (x_j,x_{j+1})(2/l)^2,$$
(8)   
where $`\rho (x_j,x_{j+1})`$ denotes the probability density at $`(x_j,x_{j+1})`$.

We show that the relation between the probability density referring to the window of size $`N=2`$ and that concerning the window of size $`N=1`$ is given by

$$\rho (x_j,x_{j+1})(2/l)^2=\rho (x_j)(2/l)exp(\lambda _j).$$
(9)   
To explain the dynamical origin of Eq.(9) and to define the parameter $`\lambda _j`$ as well, it is convenient to remind the reader that, as earlier pointed out, we are considering a one-dimensional map, defined by

$$x_{j+1}=\mathrm{\Phi }(x_j),$$
(10)   
where, for the time being, the form of the function $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x)`$ is left unspecified. The parameter $`\lambda _j`$ is the Lyapunov coefficient corresponding to the time step $`j`$, and it is defined as follows

$$\lambda _jln(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }x_{j+1}}{\mathrm{\Delta }x_j}),$$
(11)   
or, equivalently, as

$$\lambda _jln[\mathrm{\Phi }^{}(x_j)].$$
(12)   
We note that, in general, in the case of the intermittent map that we are considering, the Lyapunov coefficient does not lose dependence on the initial condition of the trajectory.The initial point of a trajectory is, let us say, $`x_0`$ and the Lyapunov coefficient is evaluated by studying, in addition to the trajectory starting at $`x_0`$, also an auxiliary trajectory which begins at $`x_0+\mathrm{\Delta }x_0`$. The symbol $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_j`$ denotes the distance between the two trajectories at the time $`j`$. We shall come back to the important aspect of the dependence on the initial condition later on in this letter. From the definition itself of Eq.(11) we have:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }x_{j+1}=\mathrm{\Delta }x_jexp(\lambda _jt).$$
(13)   
The departure of a trajectory from another one, initially belonging to the same interval of size $`1/l`$, implies that the total number of trajectories contained in the square of area $`l^2`$ is decreased by the exponential $`exp(\lambda _j)`$, thereby resulting in Eq.(9) as an effect of moving from a window of size $`1`$ to a window of size $`2`$.

It is evident that the counterpart of Eq.( 8) in the case of a window of size $`1`$ is $`\stackrel{~}{p}(x_j)=\rho (x_j)(2/l)`$. Thus Eq.(9) becomes

$$\stackrel{~}{p}(x_j,x_{j+1})=\stackrel{~}{p}(x_j)exp(\lambda _j).$$
(14)   
The effect of moving from the window of size $`1`$ to a generic window of size $`N`$ is expressed by the more general equation

$$\stackrel{~}{p}(x_j,\mathrm{},x_{j+N})=\stackrel{~}{p}(x_j)exp(\underset{n=0}{\overset{N1}{}}\lambda _{j+n}).$$
(15)   
Before illustrating the physical consequences of the general prediction of Eq.(15) it is convenient to make some more comments about the Lyapunov coefficient time evolution.The conclusion expressed by Eq.(15), supplemented by Eq.(12), leads to define the following time dependent Lyapunov coefficient:

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }(N,x)\underset{n=0}{\overset{N1}{}}ln[\mathrm{\Phi }^{}(x_n)]=\underset{n=0}{\overset{N1}{}}ln(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }x_{n+1}}{\mathrm{\Delta }x_n})=ln(\underset{n=0}{\overset{N1}{}}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }x_{n+1}}{\mathrm{\Delta }x_n})=ln(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }x_N}{\mathrm{\Delta }x_0}).$$
(16)   
It is convenient to express the property of an auxiliary trajectory of departing from the trajectory under study through the following function $`\delta (t)`$

$$\delta (t)lim_{\mathrm{\Delta }x_00}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }x_t}{\mathrm{\Delta }x_0}.$$
(17)   
Note that we are now considering windows of a so large size $`N`$ as to identify $`N`$ with the continuous variable $`t`$ and to neglect $`1`$ compared to $`N`$. Tsallis et al. have recently shown that the extension of the KS method, resting on the Tsallis entropy of Eq.(4), yields

$$\delta (t)=[1+(1Q)\kappa _Q(x)t]^{\frac{1}{1Q}}.$$
(18)   
This very important result was found by these authors studying the time evolution of the trajectories in the phase space corresponding to a window of size $`1`$, which corresponds to the one-dimensional phase space under study in this paper. Then these authors made the heuristic assumption that the increase of the number of cells takes place according to the same prediction as that leading to the increasing departure of a trajectory of interest from an auxiliary trajectory, namely, a trajectory with an initial condition very close to that of the trajectory of interest. This assumption is the same as that adopted in this paper to derive Eq.(9). They also made the heuristic assumption, not done here, that at each time step the occupied cells have the same probability. The validity of the prediction of Eq.(18) has been checked in two distinct cases. The former case is that of the logistic map at the onset of chaos, where the adoption of multifractal arguments yields $`Q<1`$. It has to be pointed out, however, that Lyra and Tsallis do not explain why the numerical calculation of the function $`\delta (t)`$ of Eq.(17) results in wild fluctuations and Eq.(18) is found to be accurate only for the amplitude increase of these oscillations. The latter case refers to the maps used to derive Lévy diffusion processes. In this case the mere adoption of analytical calculation yields $`Q>1`$.

The important research work of Lyra and Tsallis and Tsallis and co-workers did not afford direct indications of how to carry out in practice the calculation of the KST entropy, and, especially, of how to go through a kind of statistical averaging. We are now in the right position to provide these directions so as to discuss to what an extent the entropic indexes $`Q`$ predicted by the earlier papers of Refs., and really result in a linear time increase of the KST entropy. In fact from the joint use of Eq.(15), Eq.(16) and Eq.(17) we get:

$$H_q(t)=[1k(q)𝑑xp(x)^q\delta (t,x)^{1q}]/(q1),$$
(19)   
where $`k(q)(2/l)^{q1}`$ stems from the replacement of the discrete sum of Eq.(6) with the continuous integral. Note that this makes the KST entropy dependent on the size of the cells as the so called $`ϵentropy`$ (see, for example, Ref.).Note also that to derive Eq.(19) we adopted the arguments of Ref., and thus the obvious generalization of Eq.(6):

$$\underset{i}{}p_i^qf(x_i)=\frac{1}{M}\underset{j=1}{\overset{M}{}}\stackrel{~}{p}_j^{q1}f(x_j),$$
(20)   
where $`f(x_i)`$ is a generic function,

It is evident that the prediction of Refs.,, yielding $`Q<1`$, results in a linear time increase of the KST entropy only if the fluctuations can be ignored. Actually these fluctuations are multifractal in nature and are a manifestation of the effect observed more than ten years ago by Anania and Politi . These authors showed that the Feigenbaum attractor, discussed in terms of an algebraic index $`\beta `$, results in a fluctuating spectrum $`h(\beta )`$. They also noticed that the behavior of a finite distance is described by algebraic exponents over a a limited range. All these observations might be related to the possibility that the entropic index $`Q`$ has to be considered as time dependent also in the case $`Q<1`$. We are confident that the result of Eq.(19) affords a way of discussing the thermodynamic aspects of these interesting phenomena.

Let us now apply the fundamental result of Eq.(19) to the case of intermittent motion. This is the Manneville map, whose explicit expression is:

$$x_{n+1}=\mathrm{\Phi }(x_n)=x_n+x_n^z(mod.1)(1z).$$
(21)   
This map has been more recently used by Gaspard and Wang to discuss the algorithmic complexity of sporadic randomness. Using the main result of this paper we are now in a position to prove the aging effect of the non-extensive thermodynamics of Tsallis. We limit our predictions to three distinct time regions. It has to be stressed that a first time scale is given by the time step $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=1`$. The inverse power law nature of the waiting time distribution $`\psi (t)`$ is perceived at times much larger than $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=1`$. The short-time regions is given by times comparable to this microscopic time scale, which is expected to be dominated by a condition of total chaos, and, consequently to be associated with $`Q=1`$. In fact the short-time region will be dominated by the trajectories with initial conditions in either the chaotic region or in the laminar region, but conveniently close to the border with the chaotic region. Another important time is given by $`T`$, which is the mean waiting time in the laminar region, finite for $`z<2`$. The intermediate time region refers to times $`\mathrm{\Delta }t<<t<<T`$ and the large time regions refers to $`t>>T`$.

In the intermediate time region adopting an approach similar to that used in Ref., we find that the heuristic prediction of Eq.(18) is exact. Furthermore we find :

$$Q=1+(z1)/z$$
(22)   
and

$$\kappa _Q(x)=\frac{x^{\frac{Q1}{2Q}}}{2Q}.$$
(23)   
In conclusion we obtain that when the entropic index $`q`$ is given the magic value established by Eq.(22), the time evolution of $`H_q(t)`$ becomes linear. Thus we recover the prediction of Ref., implying that the dynamical processes of Lévy diffusion, in an intermediate time region, are associated to non-extensive thermodynamics. This is not a permanent condition: We know from the work of Gaspard and Wang that in the long-time limit ($`N\mathrm{}`$) $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(N,x)/N`$ becomes constant and loses the dependence on the initial condition. Consequently, on the basis itself of the theory illustrated in this paper, it is straigtforward to make the prediction that in the long-time limit $`Q=1`$.

It is also evident that the theoretical predictions of this paper refer to a case where the size $`1/l`$ of the cells is made arbitrarily small. This explains why in the intermediate time region $`Q=1+\frac{z1}{z}>1`$, in an apparent conflict with the result of the numerical analysis of Ref. yielding $`Q=[\frac{z}{(z1)}2]^\alpha `$ with $`\alpha 0.15`$, namely, $`Q<1`$. This is so because the authors of Ref. studied the KST entropy of a dynamical system with algoritmic complexity equivalent to that of the map of Ref., and so to that of the the Manneville map, using only two cells. The corresponding symbolic sequence is characterized by extended strings with the same symbol, either $`1`$ or $`1`$, and the entropy increase is generated by the random length of these sequences. The strings with the same symbol are indistinguishable from phases of regular motion, implying $`Q=0`$, while the sporadic randomness would yield $`Q=1`$. Therefore, it is reasonable that the numerical analysis, as a balance between these two processes, yields $`Q<1`$. The adoption of arbitrarily small cells, on the contrary, makes it possible to relate the extended laminar regions to $`Q>1`$, in accordance with the prediction on superdiffusion of.

We notice that the nature itself of the connection between dynamics and thermodynamics established by the work of Refs. and  implies the aging of the non-extensive thermodynamics of superdiffusion. In fact, in this case $`Q>1`$ and Eq.(18) yields a function $`\delta (t)`$ faster than the exponential, in the sense that this function diverges at a finite time. Actually, this divergence does not have a physical significance: The function $`\delta (t)`$ is forced to depart from the prediction of Eq.(18) by the exit from the laminar region. In the long-time scale the sequel of many exits from the laminar region and many random injections into to it makes it possible to adopt Eq.(18), provided that the entropic index $`Q`$ is assumed to slowly regress to the ordinary value $`Q=1`$.We think that this conclusion agrees with the observation made by Wang that the $`ϵ`$-entropy increases linearly in time for a Lévy process. In fact, from the entropic point of view the Manneville map is equivalent to the map used in  for the dynamical derivation of the Lévy processes, and Ref., in turn, shows that the Lévy diffusion regime is reached as a consequence of the repeated action of randomness, established by the chaotic part of the map. The ultimate effect of this randomness is that of producing the Markov property, a condition necessary for the realization of the Lévy diffusion, which is in fact Markov. In principle, the case $`Q<1`$ might be compatible with an eternal form of non-extensive thermodynamics. If this is so, or not for reasons related to the effects discovered by Anania and Politi,can be assessed with further research work based on the adoption of the important result of Eq.(19).

We are now in a position to answer the important issue raised by Zaslavsky. It is easy to relate all these results to the Hamiltonian dynamics of interest for Zaslavsky. In fact, as pointed out by Zaslavsky himself, the main statistical properties of the dynamical processes of interest are determined by the waiting time distribution $`\psi (t)`$ of Eq.(3) and the time evolution of the Lyapunov coefficients is strictly dependent on the power law of $`\psi (t)`$, as it can be realized by comparing Eq.(3) to Eq.(18) in the light of the conjecture made in Ref.  that $`\psi (t)=k\delta (<\kappa _0(x)>t)`$. We also note that it is straigthforward to prove that the KST entropy of the billiards discussed by Zaslavsky can be evaluated using the prescription of Eq. (19), provided that the probability distribution $`p(x)`$ is meant to refer to the corresponding phase space. Zaslavsky shows that the short-time evolution of $`\psi (t)`$ is Poisson-like. We note also that the conjecture $`\psi (t)=k\delta (<\kappa _0(x)>t)`$ fits the prescription of Eq. (1) in the case where $`Q=1`$. Thus, if we limit our observation to the short-time dynamics we reach the conclusion that the entropic index fits the extensive requirement $`Q=1`$. At later times, however, when the inverse power law nature of the function $`\psi (t)`$ shows up, we expect that $`Q`$ might come close to the non-extensive value $`Q=1+1/(2+\beta )`$ resulting from the theoretical analysis of Ref.. Furthermore, on the basis of the results of Ref., we expect again that in the long-time limit the extensive value $`Q=1`$ is recovered. The billiards studied by Zaslavsky are characterized by the joint action of a chaotic sea and of the fractal dynamics at the border between chaotic sea and stability islands. We believe that the memory erasing process that according to Zaslavsky is necessary to suppress the effects of Maxwell’s demon is produced by the action itself of the chaotic sea. The extended time regime prior to this final condition, however, is already thermodynamical, and this paper answers the question raised by Zaslasky about the thermodynamic nature of a dynamical system whose statistical properties seem to be a manifestation of Maxwell’s demon. The main conclusion of this letter is that the Maxwell demon is compatible with thermodynamics provided that the non-extensive perspective of Tsallis is adopted.