Callen's Adiabatic Piston and the Limits of the Second Law of Thermodynamics
arXiv:physics/0410050
Abstract
The limits of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which reigns undisputed in the macroscopic world, are investigated at the mesoscopic level, corresponding to spatial dimensions of a few microns. An extremely simple isolated system, modeled after Callen's adiabatic piston, [1] can, under appropriate conditions, be described as a self-organizing Brownian motor and shown to exhibit a perpetuum mobile behavior.
17 pages, 4 figures. Revised version