Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 7, 2025

Characterization of Thermal Transport in One-dimensional Solid Materials
Published on: January 26, 2014
Thermodynamic Concentration Inequalities and Trade-Off Relations
Yoshihiko Hasegawa1, Tomohiro Nishiyama2
1Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, <a href="https://ror.org/057zh3y96">The University of Tokyo</a>, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
Abstract:
Thermodynamic tradeoff relations quantify the fundamental concept of "no free lunch" in the physical world, suggesting that faster and more precise physical processes come at a higher thermodynamic cost. The key elements in these trade-off relations are the thermodynamic uncertainty relation and speed limit, which are closely tied to information inequalities from which other trade-off relations are derived. Concentration inequalities are relations that complement information inequalities in statistical analyses and have been widely used in various fields. However, their role in thermodynamic trade-off relations remains unclear. This Letter develops thermodynamic concentration inequalities that provide bounds for the distribution of observables in quantum and classical Markov processes. We derive a set of trade-off relations that generalize speed limits and thermodynamic uncertainty relations from the developed thermodynamic concentration inequalities. The derived trade-off relations hold under minimal assumptions of the underlying physical processes. This Letter clarifies the role of concentration inequalities in thermodynamics, paving the way for deriving new trade-off relations.
Related Concept Videos
Le Chatelier's Principle: Changing Concentration
Thermodynamics: Activity Coefficient
The activity coefficient is a measure of the deviation from ideal behavior. When the ionic strength of the solution is minimal, the activity coefficient of an ionic species is close to unity, making...
Thermodynamic Systems
Consider an example of tea boiling in a kettle. The...
Le Chatelier's Principle: Changing Temperature
To understand this phenomenon, consider the elementary reaction:
Since this is an elementary reaction,...
Maxwell's Thermodynamic Relations
All thermodynamic potentials are exact differentials. Therefore, their...
Temperature and Thermal Equilibrium
The concept of temperature has evolved from the common concepts of hot and cold. The scientific definition of temperature explains more than just our sense of hot and cold. Temperature is operationally defined as the quantity measured with a thermometer. Furthermore, temperature is...

