468 research outputs found
A generalized mean
AbstractA class of means is defined and an inequality is established for them. Some standard inequalities, as well as new ones, can be obtained as special cases
Detailed balance method for thin photovoltaic converters
Thermodynamics and detailed balance arguments have provided the basic ideas for the understanding of solar cell efficiencies from a theoretical point of view. The general thermodynamic theories (see, for example,1) are usually not specific to details of the solar energy converter and hence give the most general and unrealistically high estimates. The Shockley-Queisser theory2 is based on the detailed balance between the incident and emitted photon fluxes. The incident flux - assumed to be completely absorbed by the cell - is approximated by a black-body distribution at temperature Ts of the sun. The emitted photon flux is often written in the form of a modified Planck distribution at the ambient temperature To. The resulting efficiency contains only one parameter of the semiconductor: the energy gap Eg. In the limit Eg>>kTs, the open circuit voltage can be approximated by3
Evidence of no k-selection in gain spectra of quantum-well AlGaAs laser diodes
It is suggested, contrary to present views, that the processes giving rise to radiation in undoped or lightly doped quantum well laser diodes are not subject to a k-selection rule. The reason is contained in the good fit of experimental TE gain spectra which we obtain on the basis of this assumption. This does not rule out the possibility that spectra can in principle be obtained in the future which are subject to the k-selection rule
Tendency to Maximum Complexity in a Non-Equilibrium Isolated System
The time evolution equations of a simplified isolated ideal gas, the
"tetrahe- dral" gas, are derived. The dynamical behavior of the LMC complexity
[R. Lopez-Ruiz, H. L. Mancini, and X. Calbet, Phys. Lett. A 209, 321 (1995)] is
studied in this system. In general, it is shown that the complexity remains
within the bounds of minimum and maximum complexity. We find that there are
certain restrictions when the isolated "tetrahedral" gas evolves towards
equilibrium. In addition to the well-known increase in entropy, the quantity
called disequilibrium decreases monotonically with time. Furthermore, the
trajectories of the system in phase space approach the maximum complexity.Comment: 22 pages, 0 figures. Published in Phys. Rev. E 63, 066116(9) (2001
Entropy of the Universe
After a discussion on several limiting cases where General Relativity turns
into less sophisticated theories, we find that in the correct thermodynamical
and cosmological weak field limit of Einstein's field equations the entropy of
the Universe is R^(3/2) -- dependent, where R stands for the radius of the
causally related Universe. Thus, entropy grows in the Universe, contrary to
Standard Cosmology prediction.Comment: To be published by International Journal of Theoretical Physic
Thermodynamic Description of the Relaxation of Two-Dimensional Euler Turbulence Using Tsallis Statistics
Euler turbulence has been experimentally observed to relax to a
metaequilibrium state that does not maximize the Boltzmann entropy, but rather
seems to minimize enstrophy. We show that a recent generalization of
thermodynamics and statistics due to Tsallis is capable of explaining this
phenomenon in a natural way. The maximization of the generalized entropy
for this system leads to precisely the same profiles predicted by the
Restricted Minimum Enstrophy theory of Huang and Driscoll. This makes possible
the construction of a comprehensive thermodynamic description of Euler
turbulence.Comment: 15 pages, RevTe
Nonextensive Entropies derived from Form Invariance of Pseudoadditivity
The form invariance of pseudoadditivity is shown to determine the structure
of nonextensive entropies. Nonextensive entropy is defined as the appropriate
expectation value of nonextensive information content, similar to the
definition of Shannon entropy. Information content in a nonextensive system is
obtained uniquely from generalized axioms by replacing the usual additivity
with pseudoadditivity. The satisfaction of the form invariance of the
pseudoadditivity of nonextensive entropy and its information content is found
to require the normalization of nonextensive entropies. The proposed principle
requires the same normalization as that derived in [A.K. Rajagopal and S. Abe,
Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 83}, 1711 (1999)], but is simpler and establishes a basis
for the systematic definition of various entropies in nonextensive systems.Comment: 16 pages, accepted for publication in Physical Review
A New Relativistic High Temperature Bose-Einstein Condensation
We discuss the properties of an ideal relativistic gas of events possessing
Bose-Einstein statistics. We find that the mass spectrum of such a system is
bounded by where is the usual chemical
potential, is an intrinsic dimensional scale parameter for the motion of an
event in space-time, and is an additional mass potential of the
ensemble. For the system including both particles and antiparticles, with
nonzero chemical potential the mass spectrum is shown to be bounded by
and a special type of high-temperature
Bose-Einstein condensation can occur. We study this Bose-Einstein condensation,
and show that it corresponds to a phase transition from the sector of
continuous relativistic mass distributions to a sector in which the boson mass
distribution becomes sharp at a definite mass This phenomenon
provides a mechanism for the mass distribution of the particles to be sharp at
some definite value.Comment: Latex, 22 page
Onsager coefficients of a Brownian Carnot cycle
We study a Brownian Carnot cycle introduced by T. Schmiedl and U. Seifert
[Europhys. Lett. \textbf{81}, 20003 (2008)] from a viewpoint of the linear
irreversible thermodynamics. By considering the entropy production rate of this
cycle, we can determine thermodynamic forces and fluxes of the cycle and
calculate the Onsager coefficients for general protocols, that is, arbitrary
schedules to change the potential confining the Brownian particle. We show that
these Onsager coefficients contain the information of the protocol shape and
they satisfy the tight-coupling condition irrespective of whatever protocol
shape we choose. These properties may give an explanation why the
Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency often appears in the finite-time heat engines
Fine structure of excitons in CuO
Three experimental observations on 1s-excitons in CuO are not consistent
with the picture of the exciton as a simple hydrogenic bound state: the
energies of the 1s-excitons deviate from the Rydberg formula, the total exciton
mass exceeds the sum of the electron and hole effective masses, and the
triplet-state excitons lie above the singlet. Incorporating the band structure
of the material, we calculate the corrections to this simple picture arising
from the fact that the exciton Bohr radius is comparable to the lattice
constant. By means of a self-consistent variational calculation of the total
exciton mass as well as the ground-state energy of the singlet and the
triplet-state excitons, we find excellent agreement with experiment.Comment: Revised abstract; 10 pages, revtex, 3 figures available from G.
Kavoulakis, Physics Department, University of Illinois, Urban
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