Abstract
According to Chap. 5 a certain behavior of a quantity which may meaningfully be termed “temperature” is required, at least in equilibrium. Here a definition of temperature based on the quantum microstate is given. On the basis of this definition the above-mentioned behavior is demonstrated for various standard processes and setups.
All concepts … have a definite and limited applicability … Such a case is that of temperature, defined as the mean kinetical energy of the random linear motion of the component particles of a many-particle system in thermal equilibrium. This notion is difficult to apply if there are too few particles in the system, or if the temperature is so low that thermal equilibrium takes a long time to establish itself, or if the temperature is so high that the nature of particles changes with small changes of the temperature.
— Th. Brody [1]
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References
T. Brody, The Philosophy behind Physics (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1993)
W. Weidlich, Thermodynamik und statistische Mechanik (Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Wiesbaden, 1976)
G. Rickayzen, J.G. Powles, J. Chem. Phys. 114, 4333 (2001)
H.H. Rugh, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 772 (1997)
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Gemmer, J., Michel, M., Mahler, G. (2009). Temperature. In: Quantum Thermodynamics. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 784. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70510-9_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70510-9_13
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Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-70509-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-70510-9
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