On testing the violation of the Clausius inequality in nanoscale electric circuits

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential violation of the Clausius inequality in nanoscale electric circuits, analyzing experimental data and proposing methods for detecting such violations at mesoscopic scales.

Contribution

It formulates the Clausius inequality violation in the context of nanoscale RLC circuits and discusses experimental feasibility and existing evidence for this quantum effect.

Findings

Recent experiments are in the temperature range where violations could be observed.

Part of the proposed detection method has already been experimentally confirmed.

The analysis suggests that quantum effects can lead to violations of classical thermodynamic laws at nanoscale.

Abstract

The Clausius inequality, one of the classical formulations of the second law, was recently found to be violated in the quantum regime. Here this result is formulated in the context of a mesoscopic or nanoscale linear RLC circuit interacting with a thermal bath. Previous experiments in this and related fields are analyzed and possibilities of experimental detection of the violation are pointed out. It is discussed that recent experiments reached the range of temperatures, where the effect should be visible, and that a part of the proposal was already confirmed.