Related papers: Universality of efficiency at maximum power: Macro…

As has long been known to computer scientists, the performance of probabilistic algorithms characterized by relatively large runtime fluctuations can be improved by applying a restart, i.e., episodic interruption of a randomized…

Linking the microscopic and macroscopic behavior is at the heart of many natural and social sciences. This apparent similarity conceals essential differences across disciplines: while physical particles are assumed to optimize the global…

At molecular scales, fluctuations play a significant role and prevent biomolecular processes from always proceeding in a preferred direction, raising the question of how limited amounts of free energy can be dissipated to obtain directed…

We report the emergence of large-scale hyperuniformity in microfluidic emulsions. Upon periodic driving confined emulsions undergo a first-order transition from a reversible to an irreversible dynamics. We evidence that this dynamical…

Catalytically active macromolecules are envisioned as key building blocks in development of artificial nanomotors. However, theory and experiments report conflicting findings regarding their dynamics. The lack of consensus is mostly caused…

The application of principles of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics to economic systems is considered in a broad historical perspective, extending from prehistoric times to the present day. The hypothesis of maximum entropy production…

We study relaxation processes in spin systems near criticality after a quench from a high-temperature initial state. Special attention is paid to the stage where universal behavior, with increasing order parameter emerges from an early…

Quantifying energy flows at nanometer scales promises to guide future research in a variety of disciplines, from microscopic control and manipulation, to autonomously operating molecular machines. A general understanding of the…

The experiments with broadband down-converted light clearly show inequality of forward and reversed processes in optics.

With the aid of simple analytical computations for the Ehrenfest model, we clarify some basic features of macroscopic irreversibility. The stochastic character of the model allows us to give a non-ambiguous interpretation of the general…

The adiabatic compression (or expansion) of an ideal gas has been analysed. Using the kinetic theory of gases the usual relation between temperature and volume is obtained, while textbooks follow a thermodynamic approach. In this way we…

In this paper we continue the study of the geometrical features of a functional approach to classical mechanics proposed some time ago. In particular we try to shed some light on a N=2 "universal" supersymmetry which seems to have an…

Despite its idealizations, thermodynamics has proven its power as a predictive theory for practical applications. In particular, the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency provides a benchmark for any real engine operating at maximal power. Here we…

It is argued that in the description of macroscopic systems inside quantum mechanics the study of the dynamics of selected degrees of freedom slowly varying on a suitable time scale, corresponding to relevant observables for the given…

Thermoelectric efficiency is defined as the ratio of power delivered to the load of a device to the rate of heat flow from the source. Till date, it has been studied in presence of thermodynamic constraints set by the Onsager reciprocal…

For a general thermodynamic system described as a Markov process, we prove a general lower bound for dissipation in terms of the square of the heat current, thus establishing that nonvanishing current inevitably implies dissipation. This…

We formally extend the energy landscape approach for the thermodynamics of liquids to account for saddle points. By considering the extensive nature of macroscopic potential energies, we derive the scaling behavior of saddles with system…

We obtain macroscopic adiabatic thermodynamic transformations by space-time scalings of a microscopic Hamiltonian dynamics subject to random collisions with the environment. The microscopic dynamics is given by a chain of oscillators…

This article derives prognostic expressions for the evolution of globally aggregated economic wealth, productivity, inflation, technological change, innovation and growth. The approach is to treat civilization as an open, non-equilibrium…

We present a new outlook on the climate system thermodynamics, studying some of its macroscopic properties in terms of the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics. We review and clarify the notion of efficiency of the climate system by…