Negative Temperature - Heat and Molecular Energy Distribution

Heat and Molecular Energy Distribution

Negative temperatures can only exist in a system where there are a limited number of energy states (see below). As the temperature is increased on such a system, particles move into higher and higher energy states, and as the temperature increases, the number of particles in the lower energy states and in the higher energy states approaches equality. (This is a consequence of the definition of temperature in statistical mechanics for systems with limited states.) By injecting energy into these systems in the right fashion, it is possible to create a system in which there are more particles in the higher energy states than in the lower ones. The system can then be characterised as having a negative temperature. A substance with a negative temperature is not colder than absolute zero, but rather it is hotter than infinite temperature. As Kittel and Kroemer (p. 462) put it, "The temperature scale from cold to hot runs:

+0 K, . . ., +300 K, . . ., +∞ K, −∞ K, . . ., −300 K, . . ., −0 K."

Generally, temperature as it is felt is defined by the kinetic energy of atoms. Since there is no upper bound on momentum of an atom there is no upper bound to the number of energy states available if enough energy is added, and no way to get to a negative temperature. However, temperature is more generally defined by statistical mechanics than just kinetic energy (see below). The inverse temperature β = 1/kT (where k is Boltzmann's constant) scale runs continuously from low energy to high as +∞, . . ., −∞.