English

Entropy and canonical ensemble of hybrid quantum classical systems

Chemical Physics 2020-10-21 v2 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

In this work we generalize and combine Gibbs and von Neumann approaches to build, for the first time, a rigorous definition of entropy for hybrid quantum-classical systems. The resulting function coincides with the two cases above when the suitable limits are considered. Then, we apply the MaxEnt principle for this hybrid entropy function and obtain the natural candidate for the Hybrid Canonical Ensemble (HCE). We prove that the suitable classical and quantum limits of the HCE coincide with the usual classical and quantum canonical ensembles since the whole scheme admits both limits, thus showing that the MaxEnt principle is applicable and consistent for hybrid systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2004.01986,
  title  = {Entropy and canonical ensemble of hybrid quantum classical systems},
  author = {J. L. Alonso and C. Bouthelier and A. Castro and J. Clemente-Gallardo and J. A. Jover-Galtier},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.01986},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

7 pages. Final preprint corresponding to the published version of the manuscript