Typicality for Generalized Microcanonical Ensembles
Statistical Mechanics
2007-10-24 v1
Abstract
For a macroscopic, isolated quantum system in an unknown pure state, the expectation value of any given observable is shown to hardly deviate from the ensemble average with extremely high probability under generic equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions. Special care is devoted to the uncontrollable microscopic details of the system state. For a subsystem weakly coupled to a large heat bath, the canonical ensemble is recovered under much more general and realistic assumptions than those implicit in the usual microcanonical description of the composite system at equilibrium.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0710.4214,
title = {Typicality for Generalized Microcanonical Ensembles},
author = {Peter Reimann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0710.4214},
year = {2007}
}