1,645 research outputs found
Inflationary Models Driven by Adiabatic Matter Creation
The flat inflationary dust universe with matter creation proposed by
Prigogine and coworkers is generalized and its dynamical properties are
reexamined. It is shown that the starting point of these models depends
critically on a dimensionless parameter , closely related to the matter
creation rate . For bigger or smaller than unity flat universes
can emerge, respectively, either like a Big-Bang FRW singularity or as a
Minkowski space-time at . The case corresponds to a de
Sitter-type solution, a fixed point in the phase diagram of the system,
supported by the matter creation process. The curvature effects have also been
investigated. The inflating de Sitter is a universal attractor for all
expanding solutions regardless of the initial conditions as well as of the
curvature parameter.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures(available from the authors), uses LATE
Universal Irreversibility of Normal Quantum Diffusion
Time-reversibility measured by the deviation of the perturbed time-reversed
motion from the unperturbed one is examined for normal quantum diffusion
exhibited by four classes of quantum maps with contrastive physical nature.
Irrespective of the systems, there exist a universal minimal quantum threshold
above which the system completely loses the past memory, and the time-reversed
dynamics as well as the time-reversal characteristics asymptotically trace
universal curves independent of the details of the systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Thermodynamic Field Theory with the Iso-Entropic Formalism
A new formulation of the thermodynamic field theory (TFT) is presented. In
this new version, one of the basic restriction in the old theory, namely a
closed-form solution for the thermodynamic field strength, has been removed. In
addition, the general covariance principle is replaced by Prigogine's
thermodynamic covariance principle (TCP). The introduction of TCP required the
application of an appropriate mathematical formalism, which has been referred
to as the iso-entropic formalism. The validity of the Glansdorff-Prigogine
Universal Criterion of Evolution, via geometrical arguments, is proven. A new
set of thermodynamic field equations, able to determine the nonlinear
corrections to the linear ("Onsager") transport coefficients, is also derived.
The geometry of the thermodynamic space is non-Riemannian tending to be
Riemannian for hight values of the entropy production. In this limit, we obtain
again the same thermodynamic field equations found by the old theory.
Applications of the theory, such as transport in magnetically confined plasmas,
materials submitted to temperature and electric potential gradients or to
unimolecular triangular chemical reactions can be found at references cited
herein.Comment: 35 page
Slow, Steady-State Transport with "Loading" and Bulk Reactions: the Mixed Ionic Conductor LaCuO
We consider slow, steady transport for the normal state of the superconductor
LaCuO in a one-dimensional geometry, with surface fluxes
sufficiently general to permit oxygen to be driven into the sample (``loaded'')
either by electrochemical means or by high oxygen partial pressure. We include
the bulk reaction OO, where neutral atoms () go into ions
() and holes (). For slow, steady transport, the transport equations
simplify because the bulk reaction rate density and the bulk loading rates
then are uniform in space and time. All three fluxes must be
specified at each surface, which for a uniform current density corresponds
to five independent fluxes. These fluxes generate two types of static modes at
each surface and a bulk response with a voltage profile that varies
quadratically in space, characterized by and the total oxygen flux
(neutral plus ion) at each surface. One type of surface mode is associated with
electrical screening; the other type is associated both with diffusion and
drift, and with chemical reaction (the {\it diffusion-reaction mode}). The
diffusion-reaction mode is accompanied by changes in the chemical potentials
, and by reactions and fluxes, but it neither carries current (J=0) nor
loads the system chemically (). Generation of the diffusion-reaction
mode may explain the phenomenon of ``turbulence in the voltage'' often observed
near the electrodes of other mixed ionic electronic conductors (MIECs).Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Time-reversal symmetric resolution of unity without background integrals in open quantum systems
We present a new complete set of states for a class of open quantum systems,
to be used in expansion of the Green's function and the time-evolution
operator. A remarkable feature of the complete set is that it observes
time-reversal symmetry in the sense that it contains decaying states (resonant
states) and growing states (anti-resonant states) parallelly. We can thereby
pinpoint the occurrence of the breaking of time-reversal symmetry at the choice
of whether we solve Schroedinger equation as an initial-condition problem or a
terminal-condition problem. Another feature of the complete set is that in the
subspace of the central scattering area of the system, it consists of
contributions of all states with point spectra but does not contain any
background integrals. In computing the time evolution, we can clearly see
contribution of which point spectrum produces which time dependence. In the
whole infinite state space, the complete set does contain an integral but it is
over unperturbed eigenstates of the environmental area of the system and hence
can be calculated analytically. We demonstrate the usefulness of the complete
set by computing explicitly the survival probability and the escaping
probability as well as the dynamics of wave packets. The origin of each term of
matrix elements is clear in our formulation, particularly the exponential
decays due to the resonance poles.Comment: 62 pages, 13 figure
Emergence of Spacetime
Starting from a background Zero Point Field (or Dark Energy) we show how an
array of oscillators at the Planck scale leads to the formation of elementary
particles and spacetime and also to a cosmology consistent with latest
observations.Comment: Latex, 39 page
Consistent thermodynamics for spin echoes
Spin-echo experiments are often said to constitute an instant of
anti-thermodynamic behavior in a concrete physical system that violates the
second law of thermodynamics. We argue that a proper thermodynamic treatment of
the effect should take into account the correlations between the spin and
translational degrees of freedom of the molecules. To this end, we construct an
entropy functional using Boltzmann macrostates that incorporates both spin and
translational degrees of freedom. With this definition there is nothing special
in the thermodynamics of spin echoes: dephasing corresponds to Hamiltonian
evolution and leaves the entropy unchanged; dissipation increases the entropy.
In particular, there is no phase of entropy decrease in the echo. We also
discuss the definition of macrostates from the underlying quantum theory and we
show that the decay of net magnetization provides a faithful measure of entropy
change.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figs. Changed figures, version to appear in PR
INTRINSIC MECHANISM FOR ENTROPY CHANGE IN CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM EVOLUTION
It is shown that the existence of a time operator in the Liouville space
representation of both classical and quantum evolution provides a mechanism for
effective entropy change of physical states. In particular, an initially
effectively pure state can evolve under the usual unitary evolution to an
effectively mixed state.Comment: 20 pages. For more information or comments contact E. Eisenberg at
[email protected] (internet)
Irreversible thermodynamics of open chemical networks I: Emergent cycles and broken conservation laws
In this and a companion paper we outline a general framework for the
thermodynamic description of open chemical reaction networks, with special
regard to metabolic networks regulating cellular physiology and biochemical
functions. We first introduce closed networks "in a box", whose thermodynamics
is subjected to strict physical constraints: the mass-action law, elementarity
of processes, and detailed balance. We further digress on the role of solvents
and on the seemingly unacknowledged property of network independence of free
energy landscapes. We then open the system by assuming that the concentrations
of certain substrate species (the chemostats) are fixed, whether because
promptly regulated by the environment via contact with reservoirs, or because
nearly constant in a time window. As a result, the system is driven out of
equilibrium. A rich algebraic and topological structure ensues in the network
of internal species: Emergent irreversible cycles are associated to
nonvanishing affinities, whose symmetries are dictated by the breakage of
conservation laws. These central results are resumed in the relation between the number of fundamental affinities , that of broken
conservation laws and the number of chemostats . We decompose the
steady state entropy production rate in terms of fundamental fluxes and
affinities in the spirit of Schnakenberg's theory of network thermodynamics,
paving the way for the forthcoming treatment of the linear regime, of
efficiency and tight coupling, of free energy transduction and of thermodynamic
constraints for network reconstruction.Comment: 18 page
Fluctuation theorem for the effusion of an ideal gas
The probability distribution of the entropy production for the effusion of an
ideal gas between two compartments is calculated explicitly. The fluctuation
theorem is verified. The analytic results are in good agreement with numerical
data from hard disk molecular dynamics simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, 2 table
- …