Tait's “Thermodynamics”

A review of quantum thermodynamics

In this article, we present a brief and elementary review of quantum thermodynamics and its achievements and challenges. This review includes an introduction to some fundamental concepts such as internal energy, heat, work, entropy, entropy production, thermal equilibrium, second law of quantum thermodynamics, relation between thermodynamics and information theory, as well as a discussion of ho...

Granular Thermodynamics

We present experimental evidence for a strong analogy between quasi-2D uniform non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) of excited granular materials and equilibrium thermodynamics. Under isochoric conditions we find that the structure of granular NESS, as measured by the radial distribution function, the bond order parameter, and the distribution of Voronoi cells, is the same as that found in equi...

Superconductivity: Thermodynamics

Irreversible Thermodynamics

There are alternative sets of postulates which yield entirely equivalent results for several important theories. In such cases the choice of a particular set of postulates may be based upon mathematical simplicity, close relationship to experiments or to the nature of the theory, or merely personal taste. While the postulate of conservation of energy is usually presented in similar form for the...

Algorithmic Thermodynamics

Algorithmic entropy can be seen as a special case of entropy as studied in statistical mechanics. This viewpoint allows us to apply many techniques developed for use in thermodynamics to the subject of algorithmic information theory. In particular, suppose we fix a universal prefix-free Turing machine and let X be the set of programs that halt for this machine. Then we can regard X as a set of ...