Quantum thermodynamics at critical points during melting and solidification processes

Abstract

We systematically explore and show the existence of finite-temperature continuous quantum phase transition (TC QPT) at a critical point, namely, during solidification or melting such that the first-order thermal phase transition is a special case withinTC QPT. In fact,TC QPT is related to chemical reaction where quantum fluctuation (due to wavefunction transformation) is caused by thermal energy and it can occur maximally for temperatures much higher than 0 K. To extract the quantity related toTC QPT, we use the ionization energy theory and the energy-level spacing renormalization group method to derive the energy-level spacing entropy, renormalized Bose-Einstein distribution and the time-dependent specific heat capacity. This work unambiguously shows that the quantum phase transition applies for any finite temperatures. © 2014 Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.