Relativistic irreversible thermodynamics: Where do we stand?
L.S. García-Colín

Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana and El Colegio Nacional Mexico

Abstract: Relativistic Irreversible Thermodynamics is still in the process of being developed. In spite of the many efforts that have been advanced in the past seventy years to accomplish a complete, unquestionable formalism, the existing ones have still many subtle debatable drawbacks. Two of the most important ones are the way of introducing heat -dissipation- in the theory of relativity and the derivation of the correct extension of the classical Navier-Stokes equations in this framework.
In this lecture I will discuss the basic features of the main representative theories together with their weak points.I will also include a recent version drawn from kinetic theory as well as a possible experimental test which, if realizable in the laboratory, could shed light on the most suitable of all these versions.