36th M. Smoluchowski Symposium on Statistical Physics: Soft Matter, Information Processing and Nonequilibrium Fluctuations

Thermodynamics at small scales: A snapshot at the present state and those distressing troubles hunting theory and experiment

Not scheduled

20m

Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science; Jagiellonian University

Regular Talk

Speaker

Peter Hanggi (University of Augsburg)

Description

With this talk I attempt to give an overview of the present state of thermodynamics/statistical mechanics of systems of finite size and/or small scales where quantum features matter. I will survey the present state of what I think is more or less settled and what are the main (open) problems and issues that still hunt this timely area of research on a classical level -- and even more intriguing -- on a quantum level. Even at manifest thermal equilibrium, these thermodynamic notions become surprisingly tricky when strong system-bath interactions are at work. This being in distinct contrast to what one might hypothesize. Consequently: If anything can be said at all -- it should be stated most clearly (Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951).