Thermodynamic beta

In statistical thermodynamics, thermodynamic beta, also known as coldness,^[1] is the reciprocal of the thermodynamic temperature of a system:$${\displaystyle \beta ={\frac {1}{k_{\rm {B}}T}}}$$ (where T is the temperature and k_B is Boltzmann constant).^[2]

Thermodynamic beta has units reciprocal to that of energy (in SI units, reciprocal joules, ${\displaystyle [\beta ]={\textrm {J}}^{-1}}$). In non-thermal units, it can also be measured in byte per joule, or more conveniently, gigabyte per nanojoule;^[3] 1 K⁻¹ is equivalent to about 13,062 gigabytes per nanojoule; at room temperature: T = 300K, β ≈ 44 GB/nJ ≈ 39 eV⁻¹ ≈ 2.4×10²⁰ J⁻¹. The conversion factor is 1 GB/nJ = ${\displaystyle 8\ln 2\times 10^{18}}$ J⁻¹.