Thermodynamics of Small Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The size of non-macroscopic objects or small systems, natural or man-made, spans several orders of magnitude from nanometers to micrometers. As size together with their other properties influence the interactions of these objects with their environment, exchange of energy and/or matter between a finite small system and its environment can be strongly affected by, for e.g., thermal fluctuations, memory effects, and short-time scale dynamics. The use of classical thermodynamics assumes large macroscopic systems are inadequate to solve a variety of problems involving, for e.g., stochasticity, quantum dynamics, coupling to active baths, far-from-equilibrium situations, self-propelling, and anomalous diffusion. Scientific and technological progress in diverse fields such as nanostructure engineering, molecular biology, and cold atoms require new theoretical frameworks to interpret and model experimental data that reveal complex interactions and dynamics that govern the thermodynamic properties of small systems. Significant efforts are therefore being invested to further develop theoretical frameworks including far-from-equilibrium statistical physics, quantum thermodynamics of open systems, and stochastic thermodynamics.

This Special Issue aims to offer articles covering a wide range of problems pertaining to the physics of small systems whose properties necessitate the use or the development of suitable thermodynamic approaches. It is anticipated that contributions will contain theoretical developments, but submission of manuscripts reporting basic experimental results pertinent to the Special Issue, as well as those discussing relevant emerging small-systems technologies, are particularly welcome.

Dr. Henni Ouerdane
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Entropy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• thermometry and calorimetry of small systems, including nuclear matter
• stochastic thermodynamics: MEMS, molecular motors, colloids, biomolecules
• open quantum systems
• fluctuation theorems
• quantum thermodynamics
• dissipation in small systems
• information processing in small systems
• complexity of small systems