Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 120601 (2008) [4 pages]Violation of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics in Systems with Negative Specific HeatReceived 15 November 2007; revised 22 January 2008; published 25 March 2008 We show that systems with negative specific heat can violate the zeroth law of thermodynamics. By both numerical simulations and by using exact expressions for free energy and microcanonical entropy, it is shown that if two systems with the same intensive parameters but with negative specific heat are thermally coupled, they undergo a process in which the total entropy increases irreversibly. The final equilibrium is such that two phases appear; that is, the subsystems have different magnetizations and internal energies at temperatures which are equal in both systems, but that can be different from the initial temperature. © 2008 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.120601
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.120601
PACS:
05.20.Gg, 05.70.−a, 64.60.−i
See AlsoComment: K. Michaelian, I. Santamaría-Holek, and A. Pérez-Madrid, Comment on “Violation of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics in Systems with Negative Specific Heat”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 138901 (2009). Reply: A. Ramírez-Hernández, H. Larralde, and F. Leyvraz, Ramírez-Hernández, Larralde, and Leyvraz Reply:, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 138902 (2009). |
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