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Quantum theory of irreversibility

✍ Scribed by A. Pérez-Madrid

Publisher
Elsevier Science
Year
2007
Tongue
English
Weight
159 KB
Volume
378
Category
Article
ISSN
0378-4371

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✦ Synopsis

A generalization of the Gibbs-von Neumann entropy is proposed based on the quantum BBGKY (Bogolyubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon) hierarchy as the non-equilibrium entropy for an N-body system. By using a generalization of the Liouville-von Neumann equation describing the evolution of a density superoperator, the entropy production for an isolated system is calculated, being non-zero in general. The existence of a non-zero entropy production allows us, following the procedure of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to introduce a master matrix for which a microscopic expression is obtained. After this, as a test of our theory the quantum Boltzmann equation is derived in terms of a transition superoperator related to this master matrix.

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