Chua, Eugene Y. S. (2026) Putting Pressure Under Pressure: On the Status of Classical Pressure in Special Relativity. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Much of the century-old debate surrounding the status of thermodynamics in relativity has centered on the search for a suitably relativistic temperature; recent works by Chua [2023] and Chua and Callender [forthcoming] have suggested that the classical temperature concept – consilient as it is in classical settings – ‘falls apart’ in relativity. However, these discussions typically assume an unproblematic Lorentz transformation for – specifically, the Lorentz invariance of – the pressure concept. Here I argue that, just like the classical temperature, the classical concept of pressure breaks down in relativistic settings. I discuss how this might suggest a new thermodynamic limit – a u → 0 limit – without which an unambiguous thermodynamic description of systems doesn’t emerge.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Chua, Eugene Y. S. eugene.chuays@ntu.edu.sg 0000-0002-3169-7563
Additional Information:	Accepted at Synthese. Preprint of 30 Jan 2026. Please cite published version when available.
Keywords:	consilience, pressure, thermodynamics, relativity, emergence
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances General Issues > Theory Change
Depositing User:	Dr. Eugene Y. S. Chua
Date Deposited:	30 Jan 2026 13:39
Last Modified:	30 Jan 2026 13:39
Item ID:	28048
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances General Issues > Theory Change
Date:	2026
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/28048

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