The Duhem model is a simulacrum of a complex and hazy reality: hysteresis. Introduced by Pierre Duhem to provide a mathematical representation of thermodynamical irreversibility, it is used to describe hysteresis in other areas of science and engineering. Our aim is to survey the relationship between the Duhem model as a mathematical representation, and hysteresis as the object of that representation.
Keywords Duhem model • Differential equations • Hysteresis 1 ProlegomenonCiting a reference allows the author of a scientific article to attribute work and ideas to the correct source. Nonetheless, the process of describing that work and these ideas assumes some interpretation, at least of their relative importance. In order to ensure that the interpretation is reliable, we use, whenever adequate, a quotation from the reference so that the reader has a direct access to the cited source. This direct access is even more important when the source is not easily available like Ref. [67] or is not written in English like Refs. [16]-[22] among others, in which case we provide a translation. This is our approach to the literature review of Section 2.