Related papers: Evolution and the second law of thermodynamics
A quantum coordinate-entropy formulated in quantum phase space has been recently proposed together with an entropy law that asserts that such entropy can not decrease over time. The coordinate-entropy is dimensionless, a relativistic…
Cosmologists wish to explain how our Universe, in all its complexity, could ever have come about. For that, we assess the number of states in our Universe now. This plays the role of entropy in thermodynamics of the Universe, and reveals…
Entropy in thermodynamics is an extensive quantity, whereas standard methods in statistical mechanics give rise to a non-extensive expression for the entropy. This discrepancy is often seen as a sign that basic formulas of statistical…
A very simplified model of the Universe is considered in order to propose an alternative approach to the irreversible evolution of the Universe at very early times. The entropy generation at the quantum stage can be thought as a consequence…
The existence of life is one of the most fundamental problems of astrophysics. The intriguing existence of progressively complex and apparently improbable living beings should be a general tendency of life in the Universe. We are looking…
The fluctuation theorem is a pivotal result of statistical physics. It quantifies the probability of observing fluctuations which are in violation of the second law of thermodynamics. More specifically, it quantifies the ratio of the…
The second law of thermodynamics - the usual statement of the arrow of time - has been called the most fundamental law of physics. It is thus difficult to conceive that a single dynamical system could contain subsystems, in significant…
The second Tisza-Callen postulate of equilibrium thermodynamics states that for any system exists a function of the system's extensive parameters, called entropy, defined for all equilibrium states and having the property that the values…
Life evolved on our planet by means of a combination of Darwinian selection and innovations leading to higher levels of complexity. The emergence and selection of replicating entities is a central problem in prebiotic evolution. Theoretical…
For a simple model we derive analytic expressions of entropy exchange and coherent information, from which relations between them and the concurrence are drawn. We find that in the quantum evolution the entropy exchange exhibits behavior…
In quantum theory it is possible to explain time, and dynamics, in terms of entanglement. This is the timeless approach to time, which assumes that the universe is in a stationary state, where two non-interacting subsystems, the clock and…
The second law of classical thermodynamics, based on the positivity of the entropy production, only holds for deterministic processes. Therefore the Second Law in stochastic quantum thermodynamics may not hold. By making a fundamental…
Calculations of entropy fluxes and production rate have been evaluated with some success to study atmospheric processes. However, recurring questions arise as to how best to take into account entropy flux due to radiation, for example. This…
After presenting possible motives for fighting against the second law of thermodynamics, several attempts to beat this law are analyzed. The second law wins, but an interesting interpretation of it emerges. This interpretation uses the…
The physical meaning of entropy is analyzed in the context of statistical, nuclear, atomic physics and cosmology. Only the microcanonical Boltzmann entropy leads to no contradictions in several simple, elementary and for thermodynamics…
The frequent misunderstanding of information entropy is pointed out. It is shown that, contrary to fortuitous situations and common beliefs, there is no general interrelation between the information entropy and the thermodynamical entropy.…
Thermodynamics is based on the notions of energy and entropy. While energy is the elementary quantity governing physical dynamics, entropy is the fundamental concept in information theory. In this work, starting from first principles, we…
The reliability of physical theories depends on whether they agree with well established physical laws. In this work, we address the compatibility of the Hamiltonian formulation of linear-response theory with the Second Law of…
A heuristic generalization of the Boltzmann-Gibbs microcanonical entropy is proposed, able to describe meta-equilibrium features and evolution of macroscopic systems. Despite its simple-minded derivation, such a function of "collective…
Sommerfeld called the first part of the second law to be the entropy axiom, which is about the existence of the state function entropy. It was usually thought that the second part of the second law, which is about the non-decreasing nature…