Thermal stability originates the vanishing of the specific heats at the absolute zero

Abstract

The relationship between the vanishing of the heat capacities as $T\to 0^{+}$ and the thermal stability is examined. The heat capacities vanish as fast as or faster than $T$ as $T\to 0^{+}$ for states at the phase space boundary ($T=0$) to sustain the standard thermal stability criterion $U_{ss}>0$. Conversely, weakly vanishing heat capacities, which signify a loss of curvature in $U(S)$ at $T=0$, are the signature of a critical condition precisely at $T=0$, as exemplified in marginal Fermi liquids. Therefore, the vanishing of the specific heat should be viewed not as a new law but as a confirmatory result of the existing framework of thermodynamics.

4pages, 1figure, 1500 words in text, version in Spanish available elsewhere

References in corpus (3)

• Proof of the Nernst heat theorem
• Universal restrictions to the conversion of heat into work derived from the analysis of the Nernst theorem as a uniform limit
• Quantum Critical Scaling of Specific Heat in a Quasicrystal

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Characterizing the Carnot cycle at absolute zero: a reply to "Comment on `Proof of the Nernst theorem' "