Heat Transport on Ultrashort Time and Space Scales in Nanosized Systems: Diffusive or Wave-like?

The non-Fourier effects, such as wave-like temperature propagation and boundary temperature jumps, arise in nanosized systems due to the multiple time and space scales nature of out-of-equilibrium heat transport. The relaxation to equilibrium occurs in successive time and space scales due to couplings between different excitations, whose relaxation times have different physical meanings and may differ significantly in magnitude. The out-of-equilibrium temperature evolution is described by a hierarchy of partial differential equations of a higher order, which includes both the diffusive and wave modes of heat transport. The critical conditions of transition from wave to diffusive modes are identified. We demonstrate that the answer to the question concerning which of these modes would be detected by experimental measurements may also depend on the accuracy of the experimental setup. Comparisons between the proposed approach and other non-Fourier models, such as the Guyer–Krumhansl and Jeffreys type, are carried out. The results presented here are expected to be useful for the theoretical and experimental treatment of non-Fourier effects and particularly heat wave phenomena in complex nanosized systems and metamaterials.