Thermodynamics as a research area investigates the fundamental laws governing energy, entropy, and the macroscopic behavior of physical systems at or near equilibrium, and their extensions to nonequilibrium processes. It encompasses the formulation and application of the four laws of thermodynamics, characterization of state functions, phase behavior, and thermodynamic potentials, and rigorous derivation of efficiency limits for engines, refrigerators, and energy conversion devices. Contemporary research integrates classical, statistical, and quantum thermodynamics to study emergent phenomena, irreversible processes, fluctuation theorems, and information–thermodynamics connections in complex, soft-matter, biological, and nanoscale systems.
What is heat, and what is useful work if a machine consists only of an atom and light particles? In modern quantum technologies, this kind of question connects thermodynamics with quantum physics. Researchers at the University ...
General Physics
Aug 17, 2026
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66
Physicists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), the Technical University of Darmstadt, Sapienza University in Rome and the University of Camerino (both in Italy) have calculated the fundamental laws of thermodynamics ...
General Physics
Jul 27, 2026
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55
The laws of thermodynamics state that heat naturally flows from hotter systems or regions to colder systems or regions until a state of thermal equilibrium is reached. This simple principle underpins the operation of numerous ...
A new study by Queen Mary University of London mathematician Professor Ginestra Bianconi proposes a new perspective on one of the deepest questions in modern physics: How can the universe become increasingly structured and ...
General Physics
Jul 17, 2026
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When two black holes orbit each other, they eventually spiral inward and collide in one of the most violent phenomena in the universe. The event is so energetic that it significantly distorts the universe around it. It emits ...
Astronomy
Jul 8, 2026
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351
Of the known things in the universe, black holes are among the most extreme. They pack huge amounts of mass densely into a small area, producing gravity that is so strong that even light cannot escape. To describe their properties, ...
Astronomy
Jul 2, 2026
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66
Gravity, the force that attracts objects toward each other, is currently framed by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. This framework describes gravity as the curvature of spacetime, the invisible four-dimensional ...
Whenever someone asks ChatGPT a question, heat is generated somewhere in the server room—a data center. When an electric vehicle battery generates heat during operation, the heat must be managed continuously. Manufacturing ...
Nanophysics
Jun 22, 2026
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37
Many solid materials "remember" their past. A piece of metal may respond differently after being stretched, heated, or cooled, and memory materials rely precisely on this kind of history-dependent behavior. This phenomenon, ...
General Physics
May 25, 2026
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Theoretical physicists in the US have discovered a "speed limit" on the time taken for quantum information to spread through larger systems. Publishing their results in Physical Review Letters, Amit Vikram and colleagues ...
