Related papers: Thermodynamic blocking in self-gravitating systems
The fact that macroscopic systems approach thermal equilibrium may seem puzzling, for example, because it may seem to conflict with the time-reversibility of the microscopic dynamics. We here prove that in a macroscopic quantum system for a…
Stochastic thermodynamics as reviewed here systematically provides a framework for extending the notions of classical thermodynamics like work, heat and entropy production to the level of individual trajectories of well-defined…
The role of quantum entanglement in thermodynamical systems remains elusive. Does entanglement result in thermodynamic advantages or does it impose fundamental limitations? Here, we unambiguously quantify the amount of heat and work in a…
We consider the dynamics of an arbitrary quantum system coupled to a large arbitrary and fully quantum mechanical environment through a random interaction. We establish analytically and check numerically the typicality of this dynamics, in…
The nature of the behaviour of an isolated many-body quantum system periodically driven in time has been an open question since the beginning of quantum mechanics. After an initial transient, such a system is known to synchronize with the…
The thermodynamics of quantum systems coupled to periodically modulated heat baths and work reservoirs is developed. By identifying affinities and fluxes, the first and second law are formulated consistently. In the linear response regime,…
Ability of dynamical systems to relax to equilibrium has been investigated since the invention of statistical mechanics, which establishes the connection between dynamics of many-body Hamiltonian systems and phenomenological thermodynamics.…
Concepts like `typicality' and the `eigenstate thermalization hypothesis' aim at explaining the apparent equilibration of quantum systems, possibly after a very long time. However, these concepts are not concerned with the specific way in…
We establish an analytical criterion for dynamical thermalization within harmonic systems, applicable to both classical and quantum models. Specifically, we prove that thermalization of various observables, such as particle energies in…
We present a convenient technique describing the condensate in dynamical equilibrium with the thermal cloud, at temperatures close to the critical one. We show that the whole isolated system may be viewed as a single classical field…
Several approximations are made to study the microcanonical formalism that are valid in the thermodynamics limit. Usually it is assumed that: 1)Stirling approximation can be used to evaluate the number of microstates; 2) the surface entropy…
A thermal analogue of the classical brachistochrone problem, which minimizes the connection time between two equilibrium states of harmonically confined Brownian particles, has recently been solved theoretically. Here we report its…
The use of statistical methods to model gravitational systems is crucial to physics practice, but the extent to which thermodynamics and statistical mechanics genuinely apply to these systems is a contentious issue. This paper provides new…
It is believed that thermalization in closed systems of interacting particles can occur only when the eigenstates are fully delocalized and chaotic in the preferential (unperturbed) basis of the total Hamiltonian. Here we demonstrate that…
We define a thermostatic system to be a convex space of states together with a concave function sending each state to its entropy, which is an extended real number. This definition applies to classical thermodynamics, classical statistical…
A strongly non-integrable system is expected to satisfy the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, which states that the expectation value of an observable in an energy eigenstate is the same as the thermal value. This must be revised if the…
We develop a general kinetic theory framework to describe the hydrodynamics of strongly interacting, nonequilibrium quantum systems in which integrability is weakly broken, leaving a few residual conserved quantities. This framework is…
The optimization of the conversion of thermal energy into work and the minimization of dissipation for nano- and mesoscopic systems is a complex challenge because of the important role fluctuations play on the dynamics of small systems. We…
Spin glasses and many-body localization (MBL) are prime examples of ergodicity breaking, yet their physical origin is quite different: the former phase arises due to rugged classical energy landscape, while the latter is a…
Surface tension of small grains and droplets makes them stable only at a much lower temperature than in bulk. This makes spontaneous nucleation unfavorable in many cases. Kinetic approaches are delicate in that one can easily generate…