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A Precise Formulation of the Third Law of Thermodynamics

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Abstract

The third law of thermodynamics is formulated precisely: all points of the state space of zero temperature  Γ0  are physically adiabatically inaccessible from the state space of a simple system. In addition to implying the unattainability of absolute zero in finite time (or “by a finite number of operations”), it admits as corollary, under a continuity assumption, that all points of  Γ0  are adiabatically equivalent. We argue that the third law is universally valid for all macroscopic systems which obey the laws of quantum mechanics and/or quantum field theory. We also briefly discuss why a precise formulation of the third law for black holes remains an open problem.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física Matemática, Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 66318, 05315-970, São Paulo, Brazil

    Walter F. Wreszinski & Elcio Abdalla

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  1. Walter F. Wreszinski
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  2. Elcio Abdalla
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Correspondence to Walter F. Wreszinski.

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Wreszinski, W.F., Abdalla, E. A Precise Formulation of the Third Law of Thermodynamics. J Stat Phys 134, 781–792 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-009-9693-5

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