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Related Concept Videos

Thermodynamic Systems01:06

Thermodynamic Systems

A thermodynamic system is a set of objects whose thermodynamic properties are of interest. The system is considered to be embedded in its surroundings or the environment. The system and its environment can exchange heat and do work on each other through a boundary that separates them. However, the immediate surroundings of the system interact with it directly and therefore have a much stronger influence on its behavior and properties.
Consider an example of  tea boiling in a kettle. The tea and...
Isothermal Processes01:21

Isothermal Processes

A thermodynamic process that occurs at constant temperature is called an isothermal process. Heat slowly flows into the system or out of the system to maintain thermal equilibrium. Processes involving phase changes like water evaporation into steam or freezing water into ice at a constant temperature are examples of Isothermal Processes.
An ideal gas can also undergo isothermal expansion or compression.
For example, consider 1 mole of an ideal gas inside an isolated cylinder at initial volume V...
Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics01:14

Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics

Experimentally, if object A is in equilibrium with object B, and object B is in equilibrium with object C, then object A is in equilibrium with object C. That statement of transitivity is called the "zeroth law of thermodynamics." For example, a cold metal block and a hot metal block are both placed on a metal plate at room temperature. Eventually, the cold block and the plate will be in thermal equilibrium. In addition, the hot block and the plate will be in thermal equilibrium. By the zeroth...
Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics01:26

Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

Consider an isolated system in which a hot object is placed in contact with a cold one. This is an irreversible process that eventually leads both objects to reach the same equilibrium temperature. It is crucial to note that the constituents of any substance exhibit increased disorder at higher temperatures. As a cold substance absorbs heat, its constituents become more disordered. The energy transfer from a hotter object to a cooler one increases the system's disorder or randomness. This...
Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics01:20

Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics can be stated quantitatively using the concept of entropy. Entropy is the measure of disorder of the system.
The relation  between entropy and disorder can be illustrated with the example of the phase change of ice to water. In ice, the molecules are located at specific sites giving a solid state, whereas, in a liquid form, these molecules are much freer to move. The molecular arrangement has therefore become more randomized. Although the change in average...
Second Law of Thermodynamics02:49

Second Law of Thermodynamics

In the quest to identify a property that may reliably predict the spontaneity of a process, a promising candidate has been identified: entropy. Processes that involve an increase in entropy of the system (ΔS > 0) are very often spontaneous; however, examples to the contrary are plentiful. By expanding consideration of entropy changes to include the surroundings, a significant conclusion regarding the relation between this property and spontaneity may be reached. In thermodynamic models, the...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving
11:21

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving

Published on: March 30, 2017

Thermalization and its mechanism for generic isolated quantum systems.

Marcos Rigol1, Vanja Dunjko, Maxim Olshanii

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA.

Nature
|April 19, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Isolated quantum many-body systems do thermalize, relaxing to predictable states. This occurs at the level of individual eigenstates, not just through time evolution, confirming the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis.

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Area of Science:

  • Quantum mechanics
  • Statistical mechanics
  • Condensed matter physics

Background:

  • Understanding the temporal evolution of isolated quantum systems is challenging.
  • Non-equilibrium dynamics in generic isolated systems are expected to lead to thermalization.
  • The mechanism behind quantum thermalization, analogous to classical dynamical chaos, is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate that generic isolated quantum many-body systems relax to states described by statistical mechanics.
  • To investigate the role of time evolution versus individual eigenstates in quantum thermalization.
  • To confirm the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis in a specific quantum system.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical analysis of isolated quantum many-body systems.
  • Numerical simulations (implied by 'confirmed for our system').
  • Comparison of predictions from statistical mechanics with system dynamics.

Main Results:

  • Generic isolated quantum many-body systems do relax to states well-described by standard statistical mechanics.
  • Thermalization occurs at the level of individual eigenstates, with time evolution playing a secondary role.
  • A single many-body eigenstate within the microcanonical window is sufficient to compute thermal averages.

Conclusions:

  • The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis provides a robust explanation for thermalization in isolated quantum systems.
  • Individual eigenstates, not just the overall time evolution, dictate the thermalized state.
  • This finding simplifies the computation of thermal averages in quantum systems.