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.
Rolf Landauer showed that "information is physical" with every bit equivalent to a small amount of energy proportional to temperature. The Landauer equivalent energy of information carried, or represented by matter, effectively ...
In a new study published in Physical Review D, Professor Ginestra Bianconi, Professor of Applied Mathematics at Queen Mary University of London, proposes a new framework that could revolutionize our understanding of gravity ...
General Physics
Mar 4, 2025
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In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, scientists have discovered a novel approach to detecting the quantum properties of a system by simply using heat as a witness, requiring no direct measurement of the quantum ...
What if time is not as fixed as we thought? Imagine that instead of flowing in one direction—from past to future—time could flow forward or backwards due to processes taking place at the quantum level. This is the thought-provoking ...
Quantum Physics
Feb 13, 2025
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Researchers from Nagoya University in Japan and the Slovak Academy of Sciences have unveiled new insights into the interplay between quantum theory and thermodynamics. The team demonstrated that while quantum theory does ...
General Physics
Feb 7, 2025
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Challenging centuries-old assumptions about thermodynamics, a new study published in Physical Review Letters has shown that it is theoretically possible to design a heat engine that achieves maximum power output while approaching ...
It is one of the most important laws of nature that we know: The famous second law of thermodynamics says that the world gets more and more disordered when random chance is at play. Or, to put it more precisely: that entropy ...
General Physics
Jan 29, 2025
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Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a new thermometer using atoms boosted to such high energy levels that they are a thousand times larger than normal. By monitoring how these ...
Quantum Physics
Jan 23, 2025
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Heat management at the nanoscale has long been a cornerstone of advanced technological applications, ranging from high-performance electronics to quantum computing. Addressing this critical challenge, we have been deeply ...
Thermoelectric materials, which convert heat into electricity, are valuable tools for capturing waste heat and turning it into usable electricity. These materials are especially useful in industries and vehicles where engines ...
Condensed Matter
Nov 26, 2024
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