The fundamental asymmetry of heating and cooling is discovered

Scientists from Spain and Germany have discovered a fundamental asymmetry between the rate of heating and the rate of cooling, explaining with the help of a mathematical model why the first process is faster than the second. The results of the study are published in the journal Nature Physics.

Previously, heating and cooling were considered as symmetric processes that proceed in a similar way. While an increase in temperature represents a transfer of energy to individual particles, enhancing their motion, cooling entails the release of energy with the attenuation of thermal motion.