The fundamental and universal nature of Boltzmann`s constant

Technical Report · Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/266721· OSTI ID:266721

Biedenharn, L C ^[1]; Solem, J C ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
2. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States). Theoretical Div.

The nature of Boltzmann`s constant is very unclear in the physics literature. In the first part of this paper, on general considerations, the authors examine this situation in detail and demonstrate the conclusion that Boltzmann`s constant is indeed both fundamental and universal. As a consequence of their development they find there is an important implication of this work for the problem of the entropy of information. In the second part they discuss, Szilard`s famous construction showing in detail how his result is incompatible with the demonstrations in both parts 1 and 2.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG03-93ER40757
• OSTI ID: 266721
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/40757-062; CPP-95-2; ON: DE96012889; TRN: AHC29616%%118
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: [1996]
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
PHYSICS
FUNDAMENTAL CONSTANTS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
STATISTICAL MECHANICS
TEMPERATURE ZERO K