Related papers: Thermodynamic laws in isolated systems
This paper is a non-technical, informal presentation of our theory of the second law of thermodynamics as a law that is independent of statistical mechanics and that is derivable solely from certain simple assumptions about adiabatic…
The example provided in the comment [arXiv:0803.2241] concerns a situation where the system is initially at negative temperature. It is known that in such cases the Law of Entropy Decrease holds. Nevertheless, this does not challenge the…
Firstly, we calculate quantitatively decrease of entropy by the known formulas in the ordering phenomena and nucleation of thermodynamics of microstructure. They show again that a necessary condition of decrease of entropy in isolated…
We use rigorous non-equilibrium thermodynamic arguments to prove (i) the residual entropy of any system is bounded below by the experimentally (calorimetrically) determined absolute temperature entropy, which itself is bounded below by the…
The validity of the Second Law of thermodynamics, indisputable in the macroscopic world, is challenged at the mesoscopic level: a mesoscopic isolated system, possessing spatial dimensions of the order of a few microns, is capable, as shown…
Thermodynamics makes definite predictions about the thermal behavior of macroscopic systems in and out of equilibrium. Statistical mechanics aims to derive this behavior from the dynamics and statistics of the atoms and molecules making up…
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…
Several approximations are made to study the microcanonical formalism that are valid in the thermodynamics limit. Usually it is assumed that: 1)Stirling approximation can be used to evaluate the number of microstates; 2) the surface entropy…
Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble. Classically this is the manifold of all points in the $N-$body phase space with the given total energy. Due to Boltzmann's principle,…
It is believed that thermodynamic laws are associated with random processes occurring in the system and, therefore, deterministic mechanical systems cannot be described within the framework of the thermodynamic approach. In this paper, we…
In a recent paper, Dunkel and Hilbert [Nature Physics 10, 67-72 (2014)] use an entropy definition due to Gibbs to provide a 'consistent thermostatistics' which forbids negative absolute temperatures. Here we argue that the Gibbs entropy…
In recent papers, several authors have claimed that a definition of the thermodynamic entropy in terms of the logarithm of a volume in phase space, originally suggested by Gibbs, is the only valid definition. Arguing from the Gibbs entropy,…
Dunkel and Hilbert, "Consistent thermostatistics forbids negative absolute temperatures," Nature Physics, {\bf 10}, 67 (2014), and Hilbert, H\"anggi, and Dunkel, "Thermodynamic laws in isolated systems," Phys. Rev. E {\bf 90}, 062116 (2014)…
The microcanonical ensemble has long been a starting point for the development of thermodynamics from statistical mechanics. However, this approach presents two problems. First, it predicts that the entropy is only defined on a discrete set…
Very recently, the validity of the concept of negative temperature has been challenged by several authors since they consider Boltzmann's entropy (that allows negative temperatures) inconsistent from a mathematical and statistical point of…
A microscopic understanding of the thermodynamic entropy in quantum systems has been a mystery ever since the invention of quantum mechanics. In classical physics, this entropy is believed to be the logarithm of the volume of phase space…
The relationships between reversible Carnot cycles, the absence of perpetual motion machines and the existence of a non-decreasing, globally unique entropy function forms the starting point of many textbook presentations of the foundations…
Macroscopic nonextensive thermodynamics is studied without recourse to microscopic statistical mechanics. It is shown that if entropy is nonextensive, the concept of physical temperature introduced through the generalized zeroth law of…
For a small driven system coupled strongly to a heat bath, internal energy and exchanged heat are identified such that they obey the usual additive form of the first law. By identifying this exchanged heat with the entropy change of the…
This pedagogical comment highlights three misconceptions concerning the usefulness of the concept of negative temperature; being derived from the usual, often termed Boltzmann, definition of entropy. First, both the Boltzmann and Gibbs…