How Hot Is Radiation?
Statistical Mechanics
2009-11-07 v4 Astrophysics
Atomic Physics
Abstract
A self-consistent approach to nonequilibrium radiation temperature is introduced using the distribution of the energy over states. We begin rigorously with ensembles of Hilbert spaces and end with practical examples based mainly on the far from equilibrium radiation of lasers. We show that very high, but not infinite, laser radiation temperatures depend on intensity and frequency. Heuristic "temperatures" derived from a misapplication of equilibrium arguments are shown to be incorrect. More general conditions for the validity of nonequilibrium temperatures are also established.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0209043,
title = {How Hot Is Radiation?},
author = {Christopher Essex and Dallas C. Kennedy and R. Stephen Berry},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0209043},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
26 pages, revised, LaTeX, 3 encapsulated PostScript figures