Irreversible event-based model for thermal emission of electrons from isolated traps

Abstract

In spite of the irreversible nature of macroscopic processes, our understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena remains limited to reversible models (the Loschmidt's paradox). We propose a direct irreversible model for the probability per unit time that an electron will be emitted from an isolated trap. This resolves a number of problems, including (1) the dubious link between emission measurements and the parameters of the independent capture process and (2) the elusive meaning of the degeneracy factor in the equilibrium Fermi-Dirac distribution. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.