Related papers: Thermodynamics of an Empty Box
We model the dynamics of a closed quantum system brought out of mechanical equilibrium, undergoing a non-driven, spontaneous, thermodynamic transformation. In particular, we consider a quantum particle in a box with a moving and insulating…
High temperature expansion of the partition function for a particle on a segment of a line is found to show an example of the quantum system that thermodynamical functions do not approach the thermodynamical functions of its classical…
Statistical mechanics is one of the most comprehensive theories in physics. From a boiling pot of water to the complex dynamics of quantum many-body systems it provides a successful connection between the microscopic dynamics of atoms and…
Operational quantum stochastic thermodynamics is a recently proposed theory to study the thermodynamics of open systems based on the rigorous notion of a quantum stochastic process or quantum causal model. In there, a stochastic trajectory…
The thermodynamics of an ideal gas enclosed in a box of volume a1 x a2 x a3 at temperature T is considered. The canonical partition function of the system is expressed in terms of complete elliptic integrals of the first kind, whose…
Systems at finite temperature make up the vast majority of realistic physical scenarios. Indeed, although zero temperature is often accompanied by simpler mathematics, the richness in physical results is evident when one considers the…
We analyze the thermodynamical behavior of black holes in closed finite boxes. First the black hole mass evolution is analyzed in an initially empty box. Using the conservation of the energy and the Hawking evaporation flux, we deduce a…
The equilibrium and fluctuations of an ideal gas in a rigid container are studied by every student of statistical mechanics. Here we study the less well-known case when the box is floating freely; in particular we determine the fluctuations…
The piston system (particles in a box) is the simplest and paradigmatic model in traditional thermodynamics. However, the recently established framework of stochastic thermodynamics (ST) fails to apply to this model system due to the…
We undertake a first-principles analysis of the thermodynamics of a small body near a black hole horizon. In particular, we study the paradigmatic system of a quantum ideal gas in a small box hovering over the Schwarzschild horizon. We…
Thermodynamic properties of a photon gas in a small box are explored taking into account finite size effects. General thermodynamic relations are derived for this finite system. Photon gas thermodynamic functions are calculated for the case…
Classical thermodynamics is unrivalled in its range of applications and relevance to everyday life. It enables a description of complex systems, made up of microscopic particles, in terms of a small number of macroscopic quantities, such as…
Thermodynamics was developed in the XIXth century to provide a physical description to engines and other macroscopic thermal machines. Since then, progress in nanotechnologies urged to extend these formalism, initially designed for…
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…
Thermodynamics is based on a coarse-grained approach, from which its fundamental variables emerge, effectively erasing the complicate details of the microscopic dynamics within a macroscopic system. The strength of Thermodynamics lies in…
Building on the fundamental equation, this study revisits key thermodynamic concepts in a cohesive and innovative manner. It demonstrates the consistency of thermodynamic theory while addressing and clarifying common misconceptions and…
For the Fermi gas filling the space inside a cubic cavity of a fixed volume, at arbitrary temperatures and number of particles, the thermodynamic characteristics are calculated, namely: entropy, thermodynamic potential, energy, pressure,…
A generalized entropy arising in the context of superstatistics is obtained for an ideal gas. The curvature scalar associated to the thermodynamic space generated by this modified entropy is calculated using two formalisms of the geometric…
The theory of quantum thermodynamics investigates how the concepts of heat, work, and temperature can be carried over to the quantum realm, where fluctuations and randomness are fundamentally unavoidable. These lecture notes provide an…
The issue of the thermalization of an isolated quantum system is addressed by considering a perfect gas confined by gravity and initially trapped above a certain height. As we are interested in the behavior of truly isolated systems, we…