| Issue |
EPL
Volume 104, Number 1, October 2013
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 16004 | |
| Number of page(s) | 5 | |
| Section | Condensed Matter: Structural, Mechanical and Thermal Properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/104/16004 | |
| Published online | 15 November 2013 | |
Quantum confinement and negative heat capacity
1 Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Qatar Foundation - Doha, Qatar
2 Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and IFEG-CONICET Ciudad Universitaria, X5016LAE Córdoba, Argentina
3 King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
4 Department of Chemistry, Physics and Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University West Lafayette, IN 47907 USA
Received: 5 July 2013
Accepted: 2 October 2013
Thermodynamics dictates that the specific heat of a system is strictly non-negative. However, in finite classical systems there are well-known theoretical and experimental cases where this rule is violated, in particular finite atomic clusters. Here, we show for the first time that negative heat capacity can also occur in finite quantum systems. The physical scenario on which this effect might be experimentally observed is discussed.
PACS: 65.80.-g – Thermal properties of small particles, nanocrystals, nanotubes, and other related systems / 68.65.-k – Low-dimensional, mesoscopic, nanoscale and other related systems: structure and nonelectronic properties / 65.90.+i – Other topics in thermal properties of condensed matter (restricted to new topics in section 65)
© EPLA, 2013
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