Does Quantum Chaos Explain Quantum Statistical Mechanics?
Condensed Matter
2008-02-03 v2 chao-dyn
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Chaotic Dynamics
Abstract
If a many-body quantum system approaches thermal equilibrium from a generic initial state, then the expectation value , where is the system's state vector and is an experimentally accessible observable, should approach a constant value which is independent of the initial state, and equal to a thermal average of at an appropriate temperature. We show that this is the case for all simple observables whenever the system is classically chaotic.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9410046,
title = {Does Quantum Chaos Explain Quantum Statistical Mechanics?},
author = {Mark Srednicki},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9410046},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
8 pages in RevTeX 3.0; revised version contains an improved discussion of quantum chaos more accessible to nonspecialists