Related papers: Jensen Inequality and the Second Law
All previously derived thermodynamic fluctuation theorems (FTs) that concern multiple co-evolving systems have required that each system can only change its state during an associated pre-fixed, limited set of time intervals. However, in…
Boltzmann's principle S=k ln W allows to extend equilibrium thermo-statistics to ``Small'' systems without invoking the thermodynamic limit. The clue is to base statistical probability on ensemble averaging and not on time averaging. It is…
The well known Jensen inequality, holds true for every convex functions. However, we found that it is possible to apply it to some problems related to nonconvex functions for which Jensen's inequality holds true locally. Having considered a…
Some works have appeared in recent accredited literature considering the possibility of macroscopic violations of the second law in simulated as well as really executed experiments. We argue the inexistence of such violations in experiments…
Fluctuation theorems, which have been developed over the past 15 years, have resulted in fundamental breakthroughs in our understanding of how irreversibility emerges from reversible dynamics, and have provided new statistical mechanical…
This article is a short version of a longer article to appear in Physics Reports (cond-mat/9708200). The essential postulates of classical thermodynamics are formulated, from which the second law is deduced as the principle of increase of…
The possibility of stating the second law of thermodynamics in terms of the increasing behaviour of a physical property establishes a connection between that branch of physics and the theory of algebraic inequalities. We use this connection…
We derive a condition for the realizability of heat released in nondeterministic processes from a fluctuation theorem, showing that this condition is strictly stronger than the probabilistic form of the second law of thermodynamics. With…
Quantum thermodynamics investigates how robust the second law of thermodynamics serves as the unique fundamental law in the small quantum world. To tackle this problem, the quantum coherence constitutes a major difficulty of investigations,…
Statistical physics in equilibrium grants us one of its most powerful tools: the equipartition principle. It states that the degrees of freedom of a mechanical system act as a thermometer: temperature is equal to the mean variance of their…
We consider heat fluctuations and fluctuation theorems for systems driven by multiple reservoirs. We establish a fundamental symmetry obeyed by the joint probability distribution for the heat transfers and system coordinates. The symmetry…
Physical devices operating out of equilibrium are inherently affected by thermal fluctuations, limiting their operational precision. This issue is pronounced at microscopic and especially quantum scales and can only be mitigated by…
The Jarzynski equality equates the mean of the exponential of the negative of the work (per fixed temperature) done by a changing Hamiltonian on a system, initially in thermal equilibrium at that temperature, to the ratio of the final to…
Time-asymmetric behavior as embodied in the second law of thermodynamics is observed in {\it individual macroscopic} systems. It can be understood as arising naturally from time-symmetric microscopic laws when account is taken of a) the…
Possible application of a result contradicting to the second law of thermodynamics is announced. According to this result the chaotic energy of thermal fluctuation can be transformed in electric energy of direct current in an inhomogeneous…
In this paper we have considered a difference of Jensen's inequality for convex functions and proved some of its properties. In particular, we have obtained results for Csisz\'{a}r \cite{csi1} $f-$divergence. A result is established that…
Here, we adapt the concept of transformational thermodynamics, whereby the flux of temperature is controlled via anisotropic heterogeneous diffusivity, for the diffusion and transport of mass concentration. The n-dimensional,…
In a previous work (M. Campisi. Stud. Hist. Phil. M. P. 36 (2005) 275-290) we have addressed the mechanical foundations of equilibrium thermodynamics on the basis of the Generalized Helmholtz Theorem. It was found that the volume entropy…
The work is a concept of fundamental importance in thermodynamics. An open question is how to describe the work fluctuation for quantum coherent processes in the presence of initial quantum coherence in the energy basis. With the aim of…
Jensen's inequality, attributed to Johan Jensen -- a Danish mathematician and engineer noted for his contributions to the theory of functions -- is a ubiquitous result in convex analysis, providing a fundamental lower bound for the…