dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaDerivation of the Blackbody Radiation Spectrum from a Natural Maximum-Entropy Principle Involving Casimir Energies and Zero-Point Radiation
| Authors | Timothy H. Boyer |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0210129 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0210129 |
| DOI | 10.1088/0305-4470/36/26/313 |
| Journal | revised as J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 36, 7425-7440 (2003). |
Abstract
By numerical calculation, the Planck spectrum with zero-point radiation is shown to satisfy a natural maximum-entropy principle whereas alternative choices of spectra do not. Specifically, if we consider a set of conducting-walled boxes, each with a partition placed at a different location in the box, so that across the collection of boxes the partitions are uniformly spaced across the volume, then the Planck spectrum correspond to that spectrum of random radiation (having constant energy kT per normal mode at low frequencies and zero-point energy (1/2)hw per normal mode at high frequencies) which gives maximum uniformity across the collection of boxes for the radiation energy per box. The analysis involves Casimir energies and zero-point radiation which do not usually appear in thermodynamic analyses. For simplicity, the analysis is presented for waves in one space dimension.
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"abstract": "By numerical calculation, the Planck spectrum with zero-point radiation is\nshown to satisfy a natural maximum-entropy principle whereas alternative\nchoices of spectra do not. Specifically, if we consider a set of\nconducting-walled boxes, each with a partition placed at a different location\nin the box, so that across the collection of boxes the partitions are uniformly\nspaced across the volume, then the Planck spectrum correspond to that spectrum\nof random radiation (having constant energy kT per normal mode at low\nfrequencies and zero-point energy (1/2)hw per normal mode at high frequencies)\nwhich gives maximum uniformity across the collection of boxes for the radiation\nenergy per box. The analysis involves Casimir energies and zero-point radiation\nwhich do not usually appear in thermodynamic analyses. For simplicity, the\nanalysis is presented for waves in one space dimension.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0210129",
"authors": [
"Timothy H. Boyer"
],
"categories": [
"physics.class-ph",
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],
"doi": "10.1088/0305-4470/36/26/313",
"journal_ref": "revised as J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 36, 7425-7440 (2003).",
"title": "Derivation of the Blackbody Radiation Spectrum from a Natural Maximum-Entropy Principle Involving Casimir Energies and Zero-Point Radiation",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0210129"
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