Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
10728056 Physics Letters A 2010 5 Pages PDF
Abstract
The maximum work formulation of the second law of thermodynamics is generalized for a transition between nonequilibrium states. The relative entropy, the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the nonequilibrium states and the canonical distribution, determines the maximum ability to work. The difference between the final and the initial relative entropies with an effective temperature gives the maximum dissipative work for both adiabatic and isothermal processes. Our formulation reduces to both the Vaikuntanathan-Jarzynski relation and the nonequilibrium Clausius relation in certain situations. By applying our formulation to a heat engine the Carnot cycle is generalized to a circulation among nonequilibrium states.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Physics and Astronomy Physics and Astronomy (General)
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