97 research outputs found
Criticality in strongly correlated fluids
In this brief review I will discuss criticality in strongly correlated
fluids. Unlike simple fluids, molecules of which interact through short ranged
isotropic potential, particles of strongly correlated fluids usually interact
through long ranged forces of Coulomb or dipolar form. While for simple fluids
mechanism of phase separation into liquid and gas was elucidated by van der
Waals more than a century ago, the universality class of strongly correlated
fluids, or in some cases even existence of liquid-gas phase separation remains
uncertain.Comment: Proceedings of Scaling Concepts and Complex Systems, Merida, Mexic
Universal restrictions to the conversion of heat into work derived from the analysis of the Nernst theorem as a uniform limit
We revisit the relationship between the Nernst theorem and the Kelvin-Planck
statement of the second law. We propose that the exchange of entropy uniformly
vanishes as the temperature goes to zero. The analysis of this assumption shows
that is equivalent to the fact that the compensation of a Carnot engine scales
with the absorbed heat so that the Nernst theorem should be embedded in the
statement of the second law.
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Se analiza la relaci{\'o}n entre el teorema de Nernst y el enunciado de
Kelvin-Planck del segundo principio de la termodin{\'a}mica. Se{\~n}alamos el
hecho de que el cambio de entrop{\'\i}a tiende uniformemente a cero cuando la
temperatura tiende a cero. El an{\'a}lisis de esta hip{\'o}tesis muestra que es
equivalente al hecho de que la compensaci{\'o}n de una m{\'a}quina de Carnot
escala con el calor absorbido del foco caliente, de forma que el teorema de
Nernst puede derivarse del enunciado del segundo principio.Comment: 8pp, 4 ff. Original in english. Also available translation into
spanish. Twocolumn format. RevTe
Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics
The atmospheric greenhouse effect, an idea that many authors trace back to
the traditional works of Fourier (1824), Tyndall (1861), and Arrhenius (1896),
and which is still supported in global climatology, essentially describes a
fictitious mechanism, in which a planetary atmosphere acts as a heat pump
driven by an environment that is radiatively interacting with but radiatively
equilibrated to the atmospheric system. According to the second law of
thermodynamics such a planetary machine can never exist. Nevertheless, in
almost all texts of global climatology and in a widespread secondary literature
it is taken for granted that such mechanism is real and stands on a firm
scientific foundation. In this paper the popular conjecture is analyzed and the
underlying physical principles are clarified. By showing that (a) there are no
common physical laws between the warming phenomenon in glass houses and the
fictitious atmospheric greenhouse effects, (b) there are no calculations to
determine an average surface temperature of a planet, (c) the frequently
mentioned difference of 33 degrees Celsius is a meaningless number calculated
wrongly, (d) the formulas of cavity radiation are used inappropriately, (e) the
assumption of a radiative balance is unphysical, (f) thermal conductivity and
friction must not be set to zero, the atmospheric greenhouse conjecture is
falsified.Comment: 115 pages, 32 figures, 13 tables (some typos corrected
Phase transitions in quantum chromodynamics
The current understanding of finite temperature phase transitions in QCD is
reviewed. A critical discussion of refined phase transition criteria in
numerical lattice simulations and of analytical tools going beyond the
mean-field level in effective continuum models for QCD is presented.
Theoretical predictions about the order of the transitions are compared with
possible experimental manifestations in heavy-ion collisions. Various places in
phenomenological descriptions are pointed out, where more reliable data for
QCD's equation of state would help in selecting the most realistic scenario
among those proposed. Unanswered questions are raised about the relevance of
calculations which assume thermodynamic equilibrium. Promising new approaches
to implement nonequilibrium aspects in the thermodynamics of heavy-ion
collisions are described.Comment: 156 pages, RevTex. Tables II,VIII,IX and Fig.s 1-38 are not included
as postscript files. I would like to ask the requestors to copy the missing
tables and figures from the corresponding journal-referenc
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