Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Synthetic Spider Silk Production on a Laboratory Scale
Published on: July 18, 2012
Kibble-Zurek scaling of the irreversible entropy production
1Department of Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland 21250, USA.
Abstract:
If a system is driven at finite rate through a phase transition by varying an intensive parameter, the order parameter shatters into finite domains. The Kibble-Zurek mechanism predicts the typical size of these domains, which are governed only by the rate of driving and the spatial and dynamical critical exponents. We show that also the irreversible entropy production fulfills a universal behavior, which however is determined by an additional critical exponent corresponding to the intensive control parameter. Our universal prediction is numerically tested in two systems exhibiting noise-induced phase transitions.
Related Concept Videos
Entropy
Entropy
When an ideal gas expands isothermally, the disorder in the gas increases. From the molecular perspective, the gas molecules have more volume to move around in.
Consider an infinitesimal step in the expansion, which...
Standard Entropy Change for a Reaction
Reversible and Irreversible Processes
Entropy and Solvation
Entropy within the Cell

