Generalized Clausius inequalities in a nonequilibrium cold-atom system
Eric Lutz
Institute for Theoretical Physics I, University of Stuttgart
Since 2018 Professor of Theoretical Physics (Chair), University of Stuttgart. 2013-2018 Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. 2011-2013 Group leader, Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum System, FU Berlin. 2006-2011 Junior group leader (Emmy Noether fellow), University of Augsburg. 2003-2005 Postdoctoral fellow, University of Ulm. 2001-2003 Postdoctoral fellow, Yale University. 2000-2001 Postdoctoral fellow, University of Geneva. 1996-1999 PhD studies at the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg
Abstract
Thermodynamic inequalities, such as the Clausius inequality, characterize the direction of nonequilibrium processes. However, the latter result presupposes a system coupled to a heat bath that drives it to a thermal state. Far from equilibrium, the Clausius inequality can be generalized using information-theoretic quantities. For initially isolated systems that are moved from an equilibrium state by a dissipative heat exchange, the generalized Clausius inequality is predicted to be reversed. I will present the results of an experimental and theoretical investigation of the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of an initially isolated dilute gas of ultracold Cesium atoms that can be either thermalized or pushed out of equilibrium by means of laser cooling techniques. In both cases the phase-space dynamics can be determined by tracing the evolution with position-resolved fluorescence imaging, from which all relevant thermodynamic quantities can be evaluated. The Clausius inequality holds for the first process whereas the reversed Clausius inequality is verified for the second transformation.