Noyce Conference Room
Seminar
US Mountain Time
Speaker:
Carlo Rovelli
Our campus is closed to the public for this event.
Abstract: The so-called Zeroth Principle of Thermodynamics states that two systems in equilibrium have the same temperature. It is simple and compelling. But it is wrong. In the presence of gravity, a relativistic effect violates it: in a vertical column gas in thermal equilibrium, the same thermometer measures a difference of temperature (proportional to 1 over the square of the speed of light), between the top and the bottom of the column. What generalizes the Zeroth Principle, when relativistic gravity cannot be disregarded? The problem is open. I offer a suggestion, based, perhaps not surprising, on the notion of mutual information.
Speaker
Carlo RovelliTheoretical physicist and author of "The Order of Time," "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics," and "White Holes"SFI Host:
David Krakauer