Abstract
The meaning and evolution of the notion of “temperature” (which is a key concept for the condensed and gaseous matter theories) are addressed from different points of view. The concept of temperature has turned out to be much more fundamental than conventionally thought. In particular, the temperature may be introduced for systems built of a “small” number of particles and particles at rest. The Kelvin temperature scale may be introduced into quantum and relativistic physics due to the fact that the efficiency of the quantum and relativistic Carnot cycles coincides with that of the classical one. The relation of temperature with the metrics of the configurational space describing the behavior of systems built from non-interacting particles is demonstrated. The role of temperature in constituting inertia and gravity forces treated as entropy forces is addressed. The Landauer principle asserts that the temperature of a system is the only physical value defining the energy cost of the isothermal erasure of a single bit of information. The fundamental role of the temperature of the cosmic microwave background in modern cosmology is discussed. The range of problems and controversies related to the negative absolute temperature is treated.
Highlights
What is temperature? Intuitively, the notions of “cold” and “hot” precede the scientific terms “heat” and “temperature.” Carus noted in De rerum natura that “warmth” and “cold” are invisible and this makes these concepts difficult to understand [1]
We recognize that the efficiency of the Carnot engine demonstrates remarkable stability and insensitivity to the make-up of the engine, number of particles constituting the working fluid of the engine [8], quantum behavior of the particles, and to the motion of frameworks. This fact enables the introduction of the Kelvin thermodynamic temperature scale in the realms of relativity and quantum mechanics
We will demonstrate that this is a very narrow definition of temperature, and it does not always work. We start from this understanding of temperature and we will show that such an interpretation leads to the nontrivial relation of temperature to the metrics of the physical configurational space
Summary
What is temperature? Intuitively, the notions of “cold” and “hot” precede the scientific terms “heat” and “temperature.” Carus noted in De rerum natura that “warmth” and “cold” are invisible and this makes these concepts difficult to understand [1]. It should be emphasized that the efficiency of the Carnot engine is independent of the number of particles constituting the working fluid of the engine [7] This makes possible the construction of the absolute temperature scale, suggested by Kelvin, for small-scale physical systems. It is seen that the efficiency of the Carnot cycle remains the same for the linear relativistic transformations of temperature shaped as: T = αT0 ; α = const, whatever the value of the constant. We recognize that the efficiency of the Carnot engine demonstrates remarkable stability and insensitivity to the make-up of the engine, number of particles constituting the working fluid of the engine [8], quantum behavior of the particles, and to the motion of frameworks This fact enables the introduction of the Kelvin thermodynamic temperature scale in the realms of relativity and quantum mechanics. The Carnot cycle and absolute temperature scale represent the interception point for classical, quantum, and relativistic physics
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