We describe recent progress towards deriving the Fundamental Laws of thermodynamics (the 0, 1, and 2 Law) from nonequilibrium quantum statistical mechanics in simple, yet physically relevant models. Along the way, we clarify some basic thermodynamic notions and discuss various reversible and irreversible thermodynamic processes from the point of view of quantum statistical mechanics.

The zeroth and first laws of thermodynamics define the concepts of thermal equilibrium and thermal energy. The second law of thermodynamics determines whether a particular transfer of thermal energy can occur. Collectively, these fundamental laws of nature imply that a closed collection of thermodynamic subsystems will tend to thermal equilibrium. This paper generalizes the concepts of energy, ...

Black hole solutions in pure quadratic theories of gravity are interesting since they allow the formulation of a set of scale-invariant thermodynamics laws. Recently, we have proven that static scale-invariant black holes have a well-defined entropy, which characterizes equivalent classes of solutions. In this paper, we generalize these results and explore the thermodynamics of rotating black h...

Black holes have their own thermodynamics including notions of entropy and temperature and versions of the three laws. After a light introduction to black hole physics, I recollect how black hole thermodynamics evolved in the 1970’s, while at the same time stressing conceptual points which were given little thought at that time, such as why the entropy should be linear in the black hole’s surfa...

Thermodynamics sets fundamental laws for all physical processes and is central to driving and maintaining planetary dynamics. But how do Earth system processes perform work, where do they derive energy from, and what are the ultimate limits? This accessible book describes how the laws of thermodynamics apply to Earth system processes, from solar radiation to motion, geochemical cycling and biot...

Evidence implies that basic laws of thermodynamics must be tested by experiments. In this paper, an experiment is designed to measure the entropy of a system with at least one known (measurable) equation of state, especially the gas systems. Since the entropy can be measured now, the formulae related to the second law of thermodynamics can be examined by other experiments.

It is shown that the laws of thermodynamics are extremely robust under generalizations of the form of entropy. Using the Bregman-type relative entropy, the Clausius inequality is proved to be always valid. This implies that thermodynamics is highly universal and does not rule out consistent generalization of the maximum entropy method.

Orderliness, reflected via mathematical laws, is encountered in different frameworks involving social groups. Here we show that a thermodynamics can be constructed that macroscopically describes urban population flows. Microscopic dynamic equations and simulations with random walkers underlie the macroscopic approach. Our results might be regarded, via suitable analogies, as a step towards buil...

We aim to study the thermodynamic properties of the spherically symmetric reference frames with uniform acceleration, including the spherically symmetric generalization of Rindler reference frame and the new kind of uniformly accelerated reference frame. We find that, unlike the general studies about the horizon thermodynamics, one cannot obtain the laws of thermodynamics for their horizons in ...