On the nonequilibrium behavior of solids that transport heat by second sound (Q1061306)

In an earlier work [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 80, 135-158 (1982; Zbl 0501.73008)] \textit{B. D. Coleman}, \textit{M. Fabrizio} and \textit{D. R. Owen} observed that if a constitutive equation for the heat flux q employed in the theories of second sound in dielectric solids is considered to hold for large values of q, then thermodynamical principles require that the equation of state for the internal energy e contains a term which is quadratic in q. The present authors study the resulting field equations for the one-dimensional heat flow and have shown that they are compatible with the occurrence of oscillatory travelling waves containing discontinuities in temperature and heat flux. The class of waves constructed contains limited cases in which the heat flux and temperature exhibit small amplitude, high frequency, fluctuations about their mean. The authors claim that this phenomenon of strong, nearly constant, heat flow at nearly uniform temperature has not yet been observed. If a laboratory demonstration of it were achieved, the phenomenon would have certain superficial features in common with the quite distinct phenomenon of electrical superconductivity exhibited by many metals at low temperatures. In the reviewer's opinion, the present paper would not only be interesting to applied mathematicians, but could also be beneficial to the engineers and scientists working in this area.