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Modern Physics Letters B

Violation of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics in a spin chain

Zhi-Xia Li, Yuchen Yao, Sheng Zhang, Ji-Xuan Hou

Published Jun 15, 2020• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A long-range interacting spin chain can exhibit temperature jump at the transition energy under the microcanonical description. After two identical long-range interacting subsystems of the same size at the same temperatures are weakly coupled, they exchange energy and the total microcanonical entropy of the full system increases irreversibly, leading to a violation of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics. In addition, microcanonical Monte Carlo simulations are performed to verify our conclusion.

DOI
10.1142/s0217984920503182

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A long-range interacting spin chain can exhibit temperature jump at the transition energy under the microcanonical description. After two identical long-range interacting subsystems of the same size at the same temperatures are weakly coupled, they exchange energy and the total microcanonical entropy of the full system increases irreversibly, leading to a violation of the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics. In addition, microcanonical Monte Carlo simulations are performed to verify our conclusion.
The long-range interacting spin-1 chain placed in a staggered magnetic field is studied by means of microcanonical approach. Firstly, we study the microcanonical entropy of the system in the thermodynamic limit and find the system is non-ergodic and can exhibit either first-order phase transition or second-order phase transition by shifting the external magnetic field strength. Secondly, we construct the global phase diagram of the system and find a phase transition area in the phase diagram corresponding to the temperature jump of the first-order phase transition.
A long-range interacting Fermi chain placed in the uniform and the staggered magnetic field is studied via the micro-canonical approach. The relation between the entropy and the energy of the system is obtained by counting the number of microscopic states. We find that this system is non-ergodic and can exhibit first-order phase transition, second-order phase transition, or both. The microcanonical ensemble predicts negative specific heat regions and temperature jumps. Moreover, the global phase diagram of the system is constructed.
There are problems with defining the thermodynamic limit of systems with long-range interactions; as a result, the thermodynamic behavior of these types of systems is anomalous. In the present work, we review some concepts from both extensive and nonextensive thermodynamic perspectives. We use a model, whose Hamiltonian takes into account spins ferromagnetically coupled in a chain via a power law that decays at large interparticle distance rrr as $1∕{r}^{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ for $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\geqslant}0$. Here, we review old nonextensive scaling. In addition, we propose a Hamiltonian scaled by $2\frac{{(N∕2)}^{1\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}}\ensuremath{-}1}{1\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ that explicitly includes symmetry of the lattice and dependence on the size NNN of the system. The approach enabled us to improve upon previous results. A numerical test is conducted through Monte Carlo simulations. In the model, periodic boundary conditions are adopted to eliminate surface effects.
The recent experimental realization of exotic matter states in isolated quantum systems and the ensuing controversy about the existence of negative absolute temperatures demand a careful analysis of the conceptual foundations underlying microcanonical thermostatistics. Here we provide a detailed comparison of the most commonly considered microcanonical entropy definitions, focusing specifically on whether they satisfy or violate the zeroth, first, and second laws of thermodynamics. Our analysis shows that, for a broad class of systems that includes all standard classical Hamiltonian systems, only the Gibbs volume entropy fulfills all three laws simultaneously. To avoid ambiguities, the discussion is restricted to exact results and analytically tractable examples.
The second law of thermodynamics places constraints on state transformations. It applies to systems composed of many particles, however, we are seeing that one can formulate laws of thermodynamics when only a small number of particles are interacting with a heat bath. Is there a second law of thermodynamics in this regime? Here, we find that for processes which are approximately cyclic, the second law for microscopic systems takes on a different form compared to the macroscopic scale, imposing not just one constraint on state transformations, but an entire family of constraints. We find a family of free energies which generalize the traditional one, and show that they can never increase. The ordinary second law relates to one of these, with the remainder imposing additional constraints on thermodynamic transitions. We find three regimes which determine which family of second laws govern state transitions, depending on how cyclic the process is. In one regime one can cause an apparent violation of the usual second law, through a process of embezzling work from a large system which remains arbitrarily close to its original state. These second laws are relevant for small systems, and also apply to individual macroscopic systems interacting via long-range interactions. By making precise the definition of thermal operations, the laws of thermodynamics are unified in this framework, with the first law defining the class of operations, the zeroth law emerging as an equivalence relation between thermal states, and the remaining laws being monotonicity of our generalized free energies.
The infinite-volume limit of thermodynamic functions calculated in the quantum microcanonical ensemble is shown to exist for a fairly wide class of spin systems and quantum gases. The entropy is set equal to the logarithm of the number of eigenstates in an energy interval which increases linearly with the size of the system, but is otherwise arbitrary. The limiting entropy per unit volume agrees with that calculated in the canonical formalism, and possesses certain convexity properties required for thermodynamic stability. A precise criterion, in terms of the energy spectra of large systems, is given for determining the limit of the thermodynamic entropy as the temperature approaches zero. This is not determined by the degeneracy of the ground state, contrary to the discussion of the ``third law of thermodynamics'' found in some textbooks.