A thermodynamic representation of pseudoparticles with hysteresis

A method of expressing pseudoparticles with hysteresis within a context of irreversible thermodynamics is investigated. The state of a pseudoparticle is uniquely determined by its magnetization and its evolution is governed by entropy maximization. Hysteresis appears if the free energy is a nonconvex function of magnetization. The vectorial nature of magnetization and dependence on rate are accounted for in a systematic manner. Some basic properties are derived for quasistatic processes. In particular, it is found that in the scalar case, the magnetization is a monotonically increasing functional with respect to field and that for quasistatic processes, this implies the wiping-out property.