The local state of a system at thermodynamic equilibrium is determined by the values of its intensive parameters , as pressure , temperature , etc. . Specifically , thermodynamic equilibrium is characterized by the minimum of a thermodynamic potential . Global thermodynamic equilibrium ( GTE ) means that those intensive parameters are homogeneous throughout the whole system , while local thermodynamic equilibrium ( LTE ) means that those intensive parameters are varying in space and time , but are varying so slowly that , for any point , one can assume thermodynamic equilibrium in some neighborhood about that point .