thermalisation
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In physics, thermalisation (or thermalization) is the process of physical bodies reaching thermal equilibrium through mutual interaction. In general, the natural tendency of a system is towards a state of equipartition of energy and uniform temperature that maximizes the system's entropy. Thermalisation, thermal equilibrium, and temperature are therefore important fundamental concepts within statistical physics, statistical mechanics, and thermodynamics; all of which are a basis for many other specific fields of scientific understanding and engineering application.
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Article
5 sectionsContents
- Theoretical description
- Systems resisting thermalisation
- Classical systems
- Quantum systems
- References
In physics, thermalisation (or thermalization) is the process of physical bodies reaching thermal equilibrium through mutual interaction. In general, the natural tendency of a system is towards a state of equipartition of energy and uniform temperature that maximizes the system's entropy. Thermalisation, thermal equilibrium, and temperature are therefore important fundamental concepts within statistical physics, statistical mechanics, and thermodynamics; all of which are a basis for many other specific fields of scientific understanding and engineering application.
Examples of thermalisation include: the achievement of equilibrium in a plasma. the process undergone by high-energy neutrons as they lose energy by collision with a moderator. the process of heat or phonon emission by charge carriers in a solar cell, after a photon that exceeds the semiconductor band gap energy is absorbed.