Evolution of self-organizing systems from the standpoint of mechanics and thermodynamics

The extension of the principle of least action for many-particle systems has shown that the natural evolution of processes in the environment is governed largely by kinetic-to-potential energy conversion. A relation with the variational principles of nonequilibrium thermodynamics is established. It is shown that the birth and aging of structures are controlled by the principle of minimization of the integral Lagrangian, the role of which in mechanics is not less significant than the role of the law of degradation of energy (the second law of thermodynamics) in thermodynamics.