Physics – Condensed Matter – Statistical Mechanics
Scientific paper
2009-02-26
Nature Physics 5:741, 2009
Physics
Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
typos in Eqs. (12) and (14) corrected, minor additions in the text
Scientific paper
10.1038/nphys1395
The unification of relativity and thermodynamics has been a subject of considerable debate over the last 100 years. The reasons for this are twofold: (i) Thermodynamic variables are nonlocal quantities and, thus, single out a preferred class of hyperplanes in spacetime. (ii) There exist different, seemingly equally plausible ways of defining heat and work in relativistic systems. These ambiguities led, for example, to various proposals for the Lorentz transformation law of temperature. Traditional 'isochronous' formulations of relativistic thermodynamics are neither theoretically satisfactory nor experimentally feasible. Here, we demonstrate how these deficiencies can be resolved by defining thermodynamic quantities with respect to the backward-lightcone of an observation event. This approach yields novel, testable predictions and allows for a straightforward-extension of thermodynamics to General Relativity. Our theoretical considerations are illustrated through three-dimensional relativistic many-body simulations.
Dunkel Jörn
Hänggi Peter
Hilbert Stefan
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