Zeroth Law Research Articles

Thermalization of small quantum systems: from the zeroth law of thermodynamics

Thermalization of isolated quantum systems has been studied intensively in recent years and significant progresses have been achieved. Here, we study thermalization of small quantum systems that interact with large chaotic environments under the consideration of Schrödinger evolution of composite systems, from the perspective of the zeroth law of thermodynamics. Namely, we consider a small quantum system that is brought into contact with a large environmental system; after they have relaxed, they are separated and their temperatures are studied. Our question is under what conditions the small system may have a detectable temperature that is identical with the environmental temperature. This should be a necessary condition for the small quantum system to be thermalized and to have a well-defined temperature. By using a two-level probe quantum system that plays the role of a thermometer, we find that the zeroth law is applicable to quantum chaotic systems, but not to integrable systems.

On the zeroth law of turbulence for the stochastically forced Navier-Stokes equations

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>We consider the three-dimensional stochastically forced Navier–Stokes equations subjected to white-in-time (colored-in-space) forcing in the absence of boundaries. Upper bounds of the mean value of the time-averaged energy dissipation rate are derived directly from the equations for weak (martingale) solutions. This estimate is consistent with the Kolmogorov dissipation law. Moreover, an additional hypothesis of energy balance implies the zeroth law of turbulence in the absence of a deterministic force.</p>

Tolman-Ehrenfest-Klein law in non-Riemannian geometries

Heat always flows from hotter to a colder temperature until thermal equilibrium be finally restored in agreement with the usual (zeroth, first and second) laws of thermodynamics. However, Tolman and Ehrenfest demonstrated that the relation between inertia and weight uniting all forms of energy in the framework of general relativity implies that the standard equilibrium condition is violated in order to maintain the validity of the first and second law of thermodynamics. Here we demonstrate that the thermal equilibrium condition for a static self-gravitating fluid, besides being violated, is also heavily dependent on the underlying spacetime geometry (whether Riemannian or non-Riemannian). As a particular example, a new equilibrium condition is deduced for a large class of Weyl and f(R) type gravity theories. Such results suggest that experiments based on the foundations of the heat theory (thermal sector) may also be used for confronting gravity theories and prospect the intrinsic geometric nature of the spacetime structure.

Thermodynamic structure of a generic null surface and the zeroth law in scalar-tensor theory

We show that the equation of motion of scalar-tensor theory acquires thermodynamic identity when projected on a generic null surface. The relevant projection is given by $E_{ab}l^ak^b$, where $E_{ab} =8\pi T_{ab}^{(m)}$ represents the equation motion for gravitational field in presence of external matter, $l^a$ is the generator of the null surface and $k^a$ is the corresponding auxiliary null vector. Our analysis is done completely in a covariant way. Therefore all the thermodynamic quantities are in covariant form and hence can be used for any specific form of metric adapted to a null surface. We show this both in Einstein and Jordan frames and find that these two frames provide equivalent thermodynamic quantities. This is consistent with the previous findings for a Killing horizon. Also, a concrete proof of the zeroth law in scalar-tensor theory is provided when the null surface is defined by a Killing vector.

Black hole zeroth law in the Horndeski gravity

The four laws of black hole mechanics have been put forward for a long time. However, the zeroth law, which states that the surface gravity of a stationary black hole is a constant on the event horizon, still lacks universal proof in various modified gravitational theories. In this paper, we study the zeroth law {in a special Horndeski gravity}, which is an interesting gravitational theory with a nonminimally coupled scalar field. After assuming that {the nonminimally coupled scalar field has the same symmetries with the spacetime,} the minimally coupled matter fields satisfy the dominant energy condition and the Horndeski gravity has a smooth limit to Einstein gravity when the coupling constant approaches zero, we prove the zeroth law based on the gravitational equation in Horndeski gravity without any assumption to the spacetime symmetries.

Proof of the zeroth law of turbulence in one-dimensional compressible magnetohydrodynamics and shock heating.

The zeroth law is one of the oldest conjectures in turbulence that is still unproven. Here, we consider weak solutions of one-dimensional compressible magnetohydrodynamics and demonstrate that the lack of smoothness of the fields introduces a dissipative term, named inertial dissipation, into the expression of energy conservation that is neither viscous nor resistive in nature. We propose exact solutions assuming that the kinematic viscosity and the magnetic diffusivity are equal, and we demonstrate that the associated inertial dissipation is positive and equal on average to the mean viscous dissipation rate in the limit of small viscosity, proving the conjecture of the zeroth law of turbulence and the existence of an anomalous dissipation. As an illustration, we evaluate the shock heating produced by discontinuities detected by Voyager in the solar wind around 5 AU. We deduce a heating rate of ∼10^{-18}Jm^{-3}s^{-1}, which is significantly higher than the value obtained from the turbulent fluctuations. This suggests that collisionless shocks can be a dominant source of heating in the outer solar wind.

Experimental Test of the Edwards Volume Ensemble for Tapped Granular Packings.

Using x-ray tomography, we experimentally investigate granular packings subject to mechanical tapping for three types of beads with different friction coefficients. We validate the Edwards volume ensemble in these three-dimensional granular systems and establish a granular version of thermodynamic zeroth law. Within the Edwards framework, we also explicitly clarify how friction influences granular statistical mechanics by modifying the density of states, which allows us to determine the entropy as a function of packing fraction and friction. Additionally, we obtain a granular jamming phase diagram based on geometric coordination number and packing fraction.

Black hole thermodynamics in the presence of nonlinear electromagnetic fields

As the interaction between the black holes and highly energetic infalling charged matter receives quantum corrections, the basic laws of black hole mechanics have to be carefully rederived. Using the covariant phase space formalism, we generalize the first law of black hole mechanics, both "equilibrium state" and "physical process" versions, in the presence of nonlinear electrodynamics fields, defined by Lagrangians depending on both quadratic electromagnetic invariants, $F_{ab}F^{ab}$ and $F_{ab}\,{\star F}^{ab}$. Derivation of this law demands a specific treatment of the Lagrangian parameters, similar to embedding of the cosmological constant into thermodynamic context. Furthermore, we discuss the validity of energy conditions, several complementing proofs of the zeroth law of black hole electrodynamics and some aspects of the recently generalized Smarr formula, its (non-)linearity and relation to the first law.

Optimization of scramjet inlet based on temperature and Mach number of supersonic combustion

A two-dimensional mixed compression scramjet inlet design is presented in this work. The design is based on the static temperature and Mach number at the combustion chamber inlet according to the conditions required to burn hydrogen spontaneously at supersonic speed. This method considers air as a calorically perfect gas, with no viscous effects, and shock on-lip and shock on-corner. To burn hydrogen spontaneously at supersonic speed the mixture temperature of the income airflow and hydrogen is obtained considering the zeroth and first Laws of Thermodynamics. The criterion of equal shock strength, based on the normal component of the airflow velocity approaching the incident oblique shock waves, is applied to obtain the compression ramps angles and the airflow corresponding thermodynamic properties. Therefore, the total pressure ratio across all incident oblique shock waves and total temperature at the compression section are constants. Although the present method can be applied to any scramjet with a mixed compression system for any number of ramps, cases with up to 5 ramps, flying at a hypersonic speed corresponding to Mach number 7 through the Earth's atmosphere at 30 km of geometric altitude are considered. Finally, the same optimization criteria are extended to analyze the inlet of a scramjet vehicle with 5 compression ramps, flying at speeds from Mach numbers 5 to 10, at an altitude of 30 km.

On the violation of the zeroth law of turbulence in space plasmas

The zeroth law of turbulence states that, for fixed energy input into large-scale motions, the statistical steady state of a turbulent system is independent of microphysical dissipation properties. This behaviour, which is fundamental to nearly all fluid-like systems from industrial processes to galaxies, occurs because nonlinear processes generate smaller and smaller scales in the flow, until the dissipation – no matter how small – can thermalise the energy input. Using direct numerical simulations and theoretical arguments, we show that in strongly magnetised plasma turbulence such as that recently observed by the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft, the zeroth law is routinely violated. Namely, when such turbulence is ‘imbalanced’ – when the large-scale energy input is dominated by Alfvénic perturbations propagating in one direction (the most common situation in space plasmas) – nonlinear conservation laws imply the existence of a ‘barrier’ at scales near the ion gyroradius. This causes energy to build up over time at large scales. The resulting magnetic-energy spectra bear a strong resemblance to those observedin situ, exhibiting a sharp, steep kinetic transition range above and around the ion-Larmor scale, with flattening at yet smaller scales. The effect thus offers a possible solution to the decade-long puzzle of the position and variability of ion-kinetic spectral breaks in plasma turbulence. The existence of the ‘barrier’ also suggests that, how a plasma is forced at large scales (the imbalance) may have a crucial influence on thermodynamic properties such as the ion-to-electron heating ratio.

The first law and Wald entropy formula of heterotic stringy black holes at first order in \u03b1\u2032

We derive the first law of black hole mechanics in the context of the Heterotic Superstring effective action to first order in α′ using Wald’s formalism. We carefully take into account all the symmetries of the theory and, as a result, we obtain a manifestly gauge- and Lorentz-invariant entropy formula in which all the terms can be computed explicitly. An entropy formula with these properties allows unambiguous calculations of macroscopic black-hole entropies to first order in α′ that can be reliably used in a comparison with the microscopic ones. Such a formula was still lacking in the literature.In the proof we use momentum maps to define covariant variations and Lie derivatives and restricted generalized zeroth laws which state the closedness of certain differential forms on the bifurcation sphere and imply the constancy of the associated potentials on it.We study the relation between our entropy formula and other formulae that have been used in the literature.

Causality in gravitational theories with second order equations of motion

This paper considers diffeomorphism invariant theories of gravity coupled to matter, with second order equations of motion. This includes Einstein-Maxwell and Einstein-scalar field theory with (after field redefinitions) the most general parity-symmetric four-derivative effective field theory corrections. A gauge-invariant approach is used to study the characteristics associated to the physical degrees of freedom in an arbitrary background solution. The symmetries of the principal symbol arising from diffeomorphism invariance and the action principle are determined. For gravity coupled to a single scalar field (i.e. a Horndeski theory) it is shown that causality is governed by a characteristic polynomial of degree $6$ which factorises into a product of quadratic and quartic polynomials. The former is defined in terms of an "effective metric" and is associated with a "purely gravitational" polarisation, whereas the latter generically involves a mixture of gravitational and scalar field polarisations. The "fastest" degrees of freedom are associated with the quartic polynomial, which defines a surface analogous to the Fresnel surface in crystal optics. In contrast with optics, this surface is generically non-singular except on certain surfaces in spacetime. It is shown that a Killing horizon is an example of such a surface. It is also shown that a Killing horizon satisfies the zeroth law of black hole mechanics. The characteristic polynomial defines a cone in the cotangent space and a dual cone in the tangent space. The latter is used to define basic notions of causality and to provide a definition of a dynamical black hole in these theories.

Zeroth law in quantum thermodynamics at strong coupling: In equilibrium, not at equal temperature

The zeroth law of thermodynamics involves a transitivity relation (pairwise between three objects) expressed either in terms of ``equal temperature'' (ET), or ``in equilibrium'' (EQ) conditions. In conventional thermodynamics conditional on vanishingly weak system-bath coupling these two conditions are commonly regarded as equivalent. In this work we show that for thermodynamics at strong coupling they are inequivalent: namely, two systems can be in equilibrium and yet have different effective temperatures. A recent result [J.-T. Hsiang and B. L. Hu, Phys. Rev. D 103, 065001 (2021) for Gaussian quantum systems shows that an effective temperature ${T}^{*}$ can be defined at all times during a system's nonequilibrium evolution, but because of the inclusion of interaction energy, after equilibration the system's ${T}^{*}$ is slightly higher than the bath temperature ${T}_{\mathrm{B}}$, with the deviation depending on the coupling. A second object coupled with a different strength with an identical bath at temperature ${T}_{\mathrm{B}}$ will not have the same equilibrated temperature as the first object. Thus $ET\ensuremath{\ne}EQ$ for strong coupling thermodynamics. We then investigate the conditions for dynamical equilibration for two objects 1 and 2 strongly coupled with a common bath $B$, each with a different equilibrated effective temperature. We show this is possible, and prove the existence of a generalized fluctuation-dissipation relation under this configuration. This affirms that in equilibrium is a valid and perhaps more fundamental notion which the zeroth law for quantum thermodynamics at strong coupling should be based on. Only when the system-bath coupling becomes vanishingly weak that ``temperature'' appearing in thermodynamic relations becomes universally defined and makes better physical sense.

Modernizing Furnace Systems at Oil Refineries for Multifunctionality

At oil refineries, furnaces account for much of the energy expenditure. Energy efficiency may be improved by means of an integrated system that contains a furnace and a unit for heating the incoming gas with energy recovered from the smokestack gases. By exergetic analysis and efficiency assessment of the energy distribution in the system (on the basis of the zeroth law of thermodynamics), a multifunctional approach to effective integration of the furnace subsystem and the energy subsystem is proposed. That results in greater stability of the integrated system; provides the energy required for all the technological operations, as well as additional inexpensive electrical power; and helps curb thermal pollution of the environment. This approach may be adopted in modernizing existing systems or creating new systems.

Active Brownian heat engines

When do non-equilibrium forms of disordered energy qualify as heat? \textcolor{blue}{We address this question in the context of cyclically operating heat engines in contact with a non-equilibrium energy reservoir that defies the zeroth law of thermodynamics. To consistently address the latter as a heat bath requires the existence of a precise mapping to an equivalent cycle with an equilibrium bath at a time-dependent effective temperature. We identify the most general setup for which this can generically be ascertained and thoroughly discuss an analytically tractable, experimentally relevant scenario}: a Brownian particle confined in a \textcolor{blue}{periodically} modulated harmonic potential and coupled to some non-equilibrium bath of variable activity. We deduce formal limitations for its thermodynamic performance, including maximum efficiency, efficiency at maximum power, and maximum efficiency at fixed power. They can guide the design of new micro-machines and clarify how much these can outperform passive-bath designs, which has been a debated issue for recent experimental realizations. To illustrate the general principles for practical quasi-static and finite-rate protocols, we further analyze a specific realization of such an active heat engine based on the paradigmatic Active Brownian Particle (ABP) model. This reveals some non-intuitive features of the explicitly computed dynamical effective temperature, illustrates various conceptual and practical limitations of the effective-equilibrium mapping, and clarifies the operational relevance of various coarse-grained measures of dissipation.

Black hole zeroth law in higher curvature gravity

The zeroth law of black hole mechanics is an assertion of constancy of the surface gravity on a stationary Killing horizon. The Hawking temperature of the black hole horizon is proportional to the surface gravity. Therefore, the constancy of the surface gravity is reminiscent of the zeroth law of ordinary thermodynamics. In this work, we provide a proof of the zeroth law in Lanczos-Lovelock theories of gravity, where the Einstein Hilbert action is supplemented by higher curvature terms.

The Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics in Special Relativity

We critically revisit the definition of thermal equilibrium, in its operational formulation, provided by standard thermodynamics. We show that it refers to experimental conditions which break the covariance of the theory at a fundamental level and that, therefore, it cannot be applied to the case of moving bodies. We propose an extension of this definition which is manifestly covariant and can be applied to the study of isolated systems in special relativity. The zeroth law of thermodynamics is, then, proven to establish an equivalence relation among bodies which have not only the same temperature, but also the same center of mass four-velocity.

The first law of black hole mechanics in the Einstein-Maxwell theory revisited

We re-derive the first law of black hole mechanics in the context of the Einstein-Maxwell theory in a gauge-invariant way introducing “momentum maps” associated to field strengths and the vectors that generate their symmetries. These objects play the role of generalized thermodynamical potentials in the first law and satisfy generalized zeroth laws, as first observed in the context of principal gauge bundles by Prabhu, but they can be generalized to more complex situations. We test our ideas on the d-dimensional Reissner-Nordström-Tangherlini black hole.

Eigenstate thermalization and ensemble equivalence in few-body fermionic systems.

We investigate eigenstate thermalization from the point of view of vanishing particle and heat currents between a few-body fermionic Hamiltonian prepared in one of its eigenstates and an external, weakly coupled Fermi-Dirac gas. The latter acts as a thermometric probe, with its temperature and chemical potential set so that there is neither particle nor heat current between the two subsystems. We argue that the probe temperature can be attributed to the few-fermion eigenstate in the sense that (i) it varies smoothly with energy from eigenstate to eigenstate, (ii) it is equal to the temperature obtained from a thermodynamic relation in a wide energy range, (iii) it is independent of details of the coupling between the two systems in a finite parameter range, (iv) it satisfies the transitivity condition underlying the zeroth law of thermodynamics, and (v) it is consistent with Carnot's theorem. For the spinless fermion model considered here, these conditions are essentially independent of the interaction strength. When the latter is weak, however, orbital occupancies in the few-fermion system differ from the Fermi-Dirac distribution so that partial currents from or to the probe will eventually change its state. We find that (vi) above a certain critical interaction strength, orbital occupancies become close to the Fermi-Dirac distribution, leading to a true equilibrium between the few-fermion system and the probe. In that case, the coupling between the Fermi-Dirac gas and few-fermion system does not modify the state of the latter, which justifies our approach a posteriori. From these results, we conjecture that for few-body systems with sufficiently strong interaction, the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis is complemented by ensemble equivalence: individual many-body eigenstates define a microcanonical ensemble that is equivalent to a canonical ensemble with grand canonical orbital occupancies.

Violation of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics in a spin chain

A long-range interacting spin chain can exhibit temperature jump at the transition energy under the microcanonical description. After two identical long-range interacting subsystems of the same size at the same temperatures are weakly coupled, they exchange energy and the total microcanonical entropy of the full system increases irreversibly, leading to a violation of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics. In addition, microcanonical Monte Carlo simulations are performed to verify our conclusion.