Origin of negative temperatures in systems interacting with external fields

Publication date: Available online 18 April 2019Source: Physics Letters AAuthor(s): Salvatore Calabrese, Amilcare PorporatoAbstractThe controversial existence of negative temperatures has stirred interesting debates that have reached the foundations of thermodynamics, including questions on the second law, the Carnot efficiency and the statistical definition of entropy. Here we show that for systems interacting with an external field, negative temperatures may arise when the interaction energy with the field is treated as a form of internal energy. We discuss how negative temperatures are avoided when using a thermodynamic formalism that accounts for the intensive and extensive variables associated to the external field. We use the paramagnetic system and a perfect gas in a gravitational field to illustrate these ideas. Considerations about the isothermal and adiabatic work done by the field or the system also shed light on the inconsistency of super-Carnot efficiencies.

Source: Physics Letters A - April 19, 2019 Category: Physics Source Type: research