arXiv · 0711.3194
Negative specific heat for quasi-2D vortex structures in electron plasmas: an explicit, closed-form derivation
Abstract
Negative specific heat is a dramatic phenomenon where processes decrease in temperature when adding energy. It has been observed in gravo-thermal collapse of globular clusters. We now report finding this phenomenon in bundles of nearly parallel, periodic, single-sign generalized vortex filaments in the electron magnetohydrodynamic (EMH) model for the unbounded plane under strong magnetic confinement. We derive the specific heat using a steepest descent method and a mean field property. Our derivations show that as temperature increases, the overall size of the system increases exponentially and the energy drops. The implication of negative specific heat is a runaway reaction, resulting in a collapsing inner core surrounded by an expanding halo of filaments.
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T. D. Andersen, C. C. Lim. 2008-02-29. Negative specific heat for quasi-2D vortex structures in electron plasmas: an explicit, closed-form derivation. https://arxiv.org/abs/0711.3194
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