Thermodynamics — Library Silo
Thermodynamics describes how energy flows through systems and how that flow is constrained. The four laws govern (0) thermal equilibrium and temperature, (1) energy conservation including heat, (2) entropy never decreases in an isolated system, and (3) absolute zero is unreachable in a finite number of steps.
Statistical mechanics — from Boltzmann's S = kB ln Ω to the modern theory of phase transitions — explains why these macroscopic laws emerge from microscopic dynamics. Applications include heat engines (Carnot efficiency ηmax = 1 − Tc/Th), refrigeration, atmospheric physics, and the thermodynamics of black holes and the early universe.
Recent research on this topic from arXiv
Preprints and papers indexed on arXiv.org. Links open the public abstract pages.
- Statistical Mechanics and Categorical Entropy
Haiqi Wu, Kai Xu · 2025 ·arXiv:2505.18751v1
This paper investigates the relationship between categorical entropy and von Neumann entropy of quantum lattices. We begin by studying the von Neumann entropy, proving that the average von Neumann entropy per site converges to the logarithm... - Entropy in Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics
Takafumi Kita · 2006 ·arXiv:0611270v2
Entropy in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics is investigated theoretically so as to extend the well-established equilibrium framework to open nonequilibrium systems. We first derive a microscopic expression of nonequilibrium entropy for... - Statistical mechanics formulation of radiobiology
O. Sotolongo-Grau, D. Rodriguez-Perez, J. A. Santos-Miranda et al. · 2009 ·arXiv:0907.5551v3
The expression of survival factors for radiation damaged cells is empirical and based on probabilistic assumptions. We obtain it either from the maximum entropy principle for the classical Boltzmann-Gibbs entropy and/or from the Tsallis ent... - Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics Revisited
Jian Zhou · 2016 ·arXiv:1604.08739v1
We derive Bose-Einstein statistics and Fermi-Dirac statistics by Principle of Maximum Entropy applied to two families of entropy functions different from the Boltzmann-Gibbs-Shannon entropy. These entropy functions are identified with speci...