Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 6, 2025

Construction of a Compact Low-Cost Radiation Shield for Air-Temperature Sensors in Ecological Field Studies
Published on: November 6, 2018
Geodesic Path for the Minimal Energy Cost in Shortcuts to Isothermality
Geng Li1, Jin-Fu Chen1,2, C P Sun1,2
1Graduate School of China Academy of Engineering Physics, Beijing 100193, China.
Abstract:
Shortcuts to isothermality are driving strategies to steer the system to its equilibrium states within finite time, and enable evaluating the impact of a control promptly. Finding the optimal scheme to minimize the energy cost is of critical importance in applications of this strategy in pharmaceutical drug tests, biological selection, and quantum computation. We prove the equivalence between designing the optimal scheme and finding the geodesic path in the space of control parameters. Such equivalence allows a systematic and universal approach to find the optimal control to reduce the energy cost. We demonstrate the current method with examples of a Brownian particle trapped in controllable harmonic potentials.
Related Concept Videos
Path Between Thermodynamics States
Energy Diagrams - II
The point in the energy diagram at which the system’s potential energy is the lowest is known as the local minima. The system tends to stay in this position indefinitely unless acted upon by a net force. The slope of the potential energy diagram at the local minima is zero, indicating that zero net force is acting on the system. The...
Isochoric and Isobaric Processes
Suppose 1000 g of water is heated from 40...
First Law of Thermodynamics
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...
Energy Diagrams - I
Take the example of a skater on a parabolic ramp. The potential energy at different points along the ramp will be proportional to the height of the ramp, which varies quadratically with the horizontal position on the ramp. As the skater moves down the ramp from the highest position,...

