Related papers: Microcanonical thermodynamics in general physical …
We consider the entropy production of a strongly coupled bipartite system. The total entropy production can be partitioned into various components, which we use to define local versions of the Second Law that are valid without the usual…
Depending on the exact experimental conditions, the thermodynamic properties of physical systems can be related to one or more thermostatistical ensembles. Here, we survey the notion of thermodynamic temperature in different statistical…
Phase transitions of first and second order can easily be distinguished in small systems in the microcanonical ensemble. Configurations of phase coexistence, which are suppressed in the canonical formulation, carry important information…
Thermodynamics allows the application of Statistical Mechanics to finite and even small systems. As surface effects cannot be scaled away, one has to be careful with the standard arguments of splitting a system into two or bringing two…
Local master equations are a widespread tool to model open quantum systems, especially in the context of many-body systems. These equations, however, are believed to lead to thermodynamic anomalies and violation of the laws of…
The microcanonical ensemble is in important physical situations different from the canonical one even in the thermodynamic limit. In contrast to the canonical ensemble it does not suppress spatially inhomogeneous configurations like phase…
Multiscale thermodynamics is a theory of relations among levels of investigation of complex systems. It includes the classical equilibrium thermodynamics as a special case but it is applicable to both static and time evolving processes in…
The minimal set of thermodynamic control parameters consists of a statistical (thermal) and a mechanical one. These suffice to introduce all the pertinent thermodynamic variables; thermodynamic processes can then be defined as paths on this…
Due to the equivalence of the statistical ensembles thermostatic properties of physical systems with short-range interactions can be calculated in different ensembles leading to the same physics. In particular, the ensemble equivalence…
In a first part the scope of classical thermodynamics and statistical mechanics is discussed in the broader context of formal dynamical systems, including computer programmes. In this context classical thermodynamics appears as a particular…
In this paper, the foundations of classical phenomenological thermodynamics are being thoroughly revisited. A new rigorous basis for thermodynamics is laid out in the main text and presented in full detail in the appendix. All relevant…
A microscopic definition of the thermodynamic entropy in an isolated quantum system must satisfy (i) additivity, (ii) extensivity and (iii) the second law of thermodynamics. We show that the diagonal entropy, which is the Shannon entropy in…
The paper demonstrates that the canonical probability distribution of the occupancy numbers of a bosonic system is multinomial, and shows how the thermodynamics of the canonical system descends from this distribution. The categorical…
In this paper we give a pedagogical introduction to the ideas of quantum thermodynamics and work fluctuations, using only basic concepts from quantum and statistical mechanics. After reviewing the concept of work, as usually taught in…
Work extractable from quantum system can be viewed as a resource to perform some tasks. Here, we try to related the work extractable to some resource theory. To do this, we consider completely passive states and passive states as free…
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…
We argue that a very large class of quantum pure states of isolated macroscopic bodies have sharply peaked energy distributions, with their width relative to the average scaling between $\sim N^{-1}$ and $\sim N^{-1/2}$, with $N \gg 1$, the…
Approach of mesoscopic state variables to time independent equilibrium sates (zero law of thermodynamics) gives birth to the classical equilibrium thermodynamics. Approach of fluxes and forces to fixed points (equilibrium fluxes and forces)…
When studying the thermodynamic properties of mesoscopic systems the most appropriate microcanonical entropy is the volume entropy, i.e. the logarithm of the volume of phase space enclosed by the hypersurface of constant energy. For systems…
We analyze an autonomous micro-engine as a closed quantum mechanical system, including the work it performs and the fuel it consumes. Our model system shows by example that it is possible to transfer energy steadily and spontaneously…