The question of negative temperatures in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics

Lavis, David (2019) The question of negative temperatures in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 67. pp. 26-63. ISSN 1355-2198

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Abstract

We show that both positive and negative absolute temperatures and monotonically increasing and decreasing entropy in adiabatic processes are consistent with Carathéodory’s version of the second law and we explore the modifications of the Kelvin–Planck and Clausius versions which are needed to accommodate these possibilities.We show, in part by using the equivalence of distributions and the canonical distribution, that the correct microcanonical entropy, is the surface (Boltzmann) form rather than the bulk (Gibbs) form thereby providing for the possibility of negative temperatures and we counter the contention on the part of a number of authors that the surface entropy fails to satisfy fundamental thermodynamic relationships.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2019 Elsevier
Divisions:	CPNSS
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Date Deposited:	11 Feb 2019 16:09
Last Modified:	01 Nov 2024 05:31
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/100072

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