About some current frontiers of the second law
In the paper three current frontiers of the second law of thermodynamics, namely nonequi\-librium macroscopic systems, mesoscopic systems and systems with quantum-correlations are reviewed. Finally, the relevance of the use of a suitable non-equilibrium temperature definition in order to avoid some apparent paradoxes is stressed on the example of a Carnot cycle with driven heat reservoirs with quantum correlations. The two fundamental questions out of equilibrium are how to define entropy and how to state the second law in the intermediate stages of a process between the initial and final equilibrium states. Entropy is defined, going beyond the local equilibrium approximation. The extended form of entropy, depending on the fluxes also, turns out to be compatible with a generalized form of transport equation of the Maxwell-Cataneo type. A generalization of the Maxwell-Cataneo equation, including non-local effects, is discussed as well. Small systems and short times defy the classical formulation of the second law, which is valid for macroscopic systems. For microscopic systems there arises the possibility of negative values for the entropy production during short times, a behaviour which has been given a quantative form in a transient fluctuation theorem. Quantum correlations or entanglement of wave function may also lead to apparent violations of the second law of thermodynamics, as for instance in the case of a Carnot cycle of radiation in contact with a quantum coherent heat source. On the example of this Carnot cycle it is investigated in detail the question of the use of effective temperatures in nonequilibrium. With an effective temperature, defined from a nonequilibrium distribution function, Carnot's result is recovered, and the system does not violate Kelvin's statement of the second law.
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