Negative Specific Heat in a Quasi-2D Generalized Vorticity Model

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the occurrence of negative specific heat in a quasi-2D vortex filament system within the EMH model, revealing a counterintuitive thermal behavior with implications for system collapse.

Contribution

It introduces the phenomenon of negative specific heat in vortex filament bundles under magnetic confinement, derived through mean field and steepest descent methods.

Findings

Negative specific heat observed in vortex filament bundles.

System size increases exponentially with temperature.

Energy decreases as temperature increases, indicating a runaway collapse.

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.