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Concavity, superadditivity and the second law

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Foundations of Physics Letters

Abstract

Callen's discussion of the entropy maximum principle is extended to cover the case of negative absolute temperatures, and the consequences for the stability conditions of systems exhibiting such temperatures are examined. Further, a physical example is considered to illustrate the fact that the essence of the second law of thermodynamics must be concavity rather than superadditivity.

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Dunning-Davies, J. Concavity, superadditivity and the second law. Found Phys Lett 6, 289–295 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00665733

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00665733

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