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Isolated nonequilibrium systems in contact

Yair Shokef, Gal Shulkind, and Dov Levine
Phys. Rev. E 76, 030101(R) – Published 5 September 2007

Abstract

We investigate a solvable model for energy-conserving nonequilibrium steady states. The time-reversal asymmetry of the dynamics leads to the violation of detailed balance and to ergodicity breaking, as manifested by the presence of dynamically inaccessible states. Two such systems in contact do not reach the same effective temperature if standard definitions are used. However, we identify the effective temperature that controls energy flow. Although this operational temperature does reach a common value upon contact, the total entropy of the joint system can decrease.

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  • Received 1 March 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.76.030101

©2007 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Yair Shokef1,*, Gal Shulkind2, and Dov Levine2

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel

  • *Formerly Yair Srebro.

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Issue

Vol. 76, Iss. 3 — September 2007

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