Nonequilibrium extension of Third Law

Christian Maes (KU Leuven)

21-Feb-2023, 14:00-15:00 (13 months ago)

Abstract: The Nernst-Planck Postulate (Third Law of Thermodynamics stating that the entropy becomes zero at zero temperature) has a different status from the other Laws: it is not a consequence of the general structure of statistical thermodynamics, it can fail, and it does not carry a straightforward dynamic or kinetic derivation when it does hold. In this talk we consider the latter question, by extending the Third Law to nonequilibrium jump processes. We give sufficient conditions in a Nonequilibrium Nernst Theorem, that the operationally defined excess heat vanishes at absolute zero, and from counter examples, we understand that those conditions are well on target. We give an example of a zero-temperature nonequilibrium transition where the heat capacity abruptly diverges as a function of the chemical potential. The main ingredients in the proof are a formulation of the quasistatic relaxation between nonequilibrium steady conditions,d a combined application of the matrix tree and the matrix forest theorem.

Joint work with Faezeh Khodabandehlou and Karel Netocny.

mathematical physics

Audience: researchers in the discipline


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Organizers: Margherita Disertori*, Wojciech Dybalski*, Ian Jauslin, Hal Tasaki*
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