Physics Program Presents

Why Do We Need a Zeroth Law?

The zeroth law of thermodynamics defines the notion of temperature and, historically, played a central role in the logical foundations of thermodynamics. On the other hand, nowadays the concept of temperature is so well established in the community that the zeroth law is usually reinterpreted as a mere consequence of the first and the second law, deserving no particular attention. Although it is true that the zeroth law is formally redundant once the other laws are given (and therefore removing it from the set of first principles does not reduce the predictive power of physics) it is a fundamental guideline for us, to understand what temperature really is. Underestimating its philosophical importance has generated confusion and misunderstandings, including the famous controversy on the relativistic transformation of temperature, commonly known as Planck-Ott imbroglio. In this talk, which is based on arXiv:2005.06396, I will try to clarify the subject.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YSqKU8aT28cjuK6ZSH-b3TPbpcRENFJ4/view?usp=sharing

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Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST/GMT-5

Location: Online Event

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