Related papers: Critique of some thermodynamic proofs based on the…
The association of information with entropy has been argued on plausibility arguments involving the operation of imaginary engines and beings, and it is not a universal theorem. In this paper, a theorem by Charles Bennett on reversible…
Motivated by recent studies on models of particle and heat quantum pumps, we study similar simple classical models and examine the possibility of heat pumping. Unlike many of the usual ratchet models of molecular engines, the models we…
Ten attempts to prove the Generalized Second Law of Thermodyanmics (GSL) are described and critiqued. Each proof provides valuable insights which should be useful for constructing future, more complete proofs. Rather than merely summarizing…
Several comments are given to previous proofs of the generalised second law of thermodynamics: black hole entropy plus ordinary matter entropy never decreases for a thermally closed system. Arguments in favour of its truism are given in the…
Comparing black hole thermodynamics with the axiomatic formulation of thermodynamics for laboratory systems, it is found that some basic assumptions (required by experimental facts) in laboratory thermodynamics do not hold for black hole…
We solve a set of selected exercises on rotational motion requiring a mechanical and thermodynamical analysis. When non-conservative forces or thermal effects are present, a complete study must use the first law of thermodynamics together…
This paper elaborates on the implications of the relationship between the Second and Third Laws and provides a comprehensive formal and historical justification for the logical redundancy of the Nernst heat theorem. By revisiting the…
"Ceci n'est pas une pipe" wrote Ren\'e Magritte on what was only the representation of a pipe. Phenomena and their physical descriptions differ, and in particular the laws ruling the former might enjoy symmetries that have to be spent to…
Many theoretical expressions of dissipation along non-equilibrium processes have been proposed. However, they have not been fully verified by experiments. Especially for systems strongly interacting with environments the connection between…
The Carnot heat engine sets an upper bound on the efficiency of a heat engine. As an ideal, reversible engine, a single cycle must be performed in infinite time, and so the Carnot engine has zero power. However, there is nothing in…
According to the laws of thermodynamics, no heat engine can beat the efficiency of a Carnot cycle. This efficiency traditionally comes with vanishing power output and practical designs, optimized for power, generally achieve far less.…
Mesoscopic thermoelectric heat engine is much anticipated as a device that allows us to utilize with high efficiency wasted heat inaccessible by conventional heat engines. However, the derivation of the heat current in this engine seems to…
The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated system is almost always increasing. We propose combinatorial formalizations of the second law and explore their conditions of possibilities.
It is shown that the laws of thermodynamics are extremely robust under generalizations of the form of entropy. Using the Bregman-type relative entropy, the Clausius inequality is proved to be always valid. This implies that thermodynamics…
We examine the entropic picture of Newton's second law for the case of circular motion. It is shown that one must make modifications to the derivation of F=ma due to a change in the effective Unruh temperature for circular motion. These…
We show that the Cerf-Adami inequalities do not necessarily depend on conditional entropies nor any reference to Markov chains. While the latter are not explicit in the original form, they are often implied in certain derivations. We also…
Two testable schemes for quantum heat engines are investigated under the quantization framework of noncommutative (NC) quantum mechanics (QM). By identifying the phenomenological connection between the phase-space NC driving parameters and…
The efficiency of microscopic heat engines in a thermally heterogenous environment is considered. We show that, as a consequence of the recently discovered entropic anomaly, quasi-static engines, whose efficiency is maximal in a fluid at…
We derive a bound on the efficiency of thermal engines that can be sharper than Carnot's limit. It is a function of statistical correlations between the engine internal state and Hamiltonian, can be saturated even in finite-time cycles, and…
A general thermodynamic framework is presented for open quantum systems in fixed contact with a thermal reservoir. The first and second law are obtained for arbitrary system-reservoir coupling strengths, and including both factorized and…