Related papers: Maxwell's Conjecture of the Demon creating a Tempe…
A framework for the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of glasses is discussed. It also explains the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of a black hole isolated from matter. The first and second laws of black dynamics and black hole thermodynamics…
Maxwellian ratchets are autonomous, finite-state thermodynamic engines that implement input-output informational transformations. Previous studies of these "demons" focused on how they exploit environmental resources to generate work: They…
We consider a feedback control loop rectifying particle transport through a single quantum dot that is coupled to two electronic leads. While monitoring the occupation of the dot, we apply conditional control operations by changing the…
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…
We have investigated the thermodynamical properties of dark energy. Assuming that the dark energy temperature $T\sim a^{-n}$ and considering that the volume of the Universe enveloped by the apparent horizon relates to the temperature, we…
We present a biased review of some of the most "spectacular" effects appearing in the dynamics of granular gases where the dissipative nature of the collisions leads to a rich phenomenology, exhibiting striking differences with equilibrium…
Thermodynamics, the branch of physics concerned with the description of macroscopic bodies, heat exchange and the conversion of different forms of energy is based on four laws: the zeroth law, which states that bodies in thermal contact…
Quantum discord was proposed as an information theoretic measure of the ``quantumness'' of correlations. I show that discord determines the difference between the efficiency of quantum and classical Maxwell's demons in extracting work from…
We present here a machine that is capable of extracting work from a single heat bath. Although no significant temperature gradient is involved in the operation of the machine, yet the Carnot efficiency as high as one is achievable. Working…
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…
The essential postulates of classical thermodynamics are formulated, from which the second law is deduced as the principle of increase of entropy in irreversible adiabatic processes that take one equilibrium state to another. The entropy…
The study of feedback control inspired by Maxwell's demon is central to the understanding of the relationship between thermodynamics and information. In this paper, we establish fundamental lower limits on the work costs of system…
We propose a new way of looking at the quantum Maxwell's demon problem in terms of conditional action. A "conditional action" on a system is a unitary time evolution, selected according to the result of a previous measurement, which can…
Materials that are constantly driven out of thermodynamic equilibrium, such as active and living systems, typically violate the Einstein relation. This may arise from active contributions to particle fluctuations which are unrelated to the…
The relation between the theory of entanglement and thermodynamics is very tight: a thermodynamic theory of quantum entanglement, as well as the establishment of rigorous formal connections between the laws of thermodynamics and the…
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…
We theoretically study the entropy production and the work extracted from a system connected to two reservoirs by periodic modulations of the electrochemical potentials of the reservoirs and the parameter of a system Hamiltonian under…
We address the problem of the dynamical foundation of non-canonical equilibrium. We consider, as a source of divergence from ordinary statistical mechanics, the breakdown of the condition of time scale separation between microscopic and…
The second law of thermodynamics in nonextensive statistical mechanics is discussed in the quantum regime. Making use of the convexity property of the generalized relative entropy associated with the Tsallis entropy indexed by q, Clausius'…
We formulate a nonlinear electrodynamic theory which may be viewed as a weighted theory minimally interpolating the classical Maxwell and Born--Infeld theories. We show that, in contrast to the Born--Infeld theory, this new theory…