Related papers: Entropy production and the arrow of time
There is a relation between the irreversibility of thermodynamic processes as expressed by the breaking of time-reversal symmetry, and the entropy production in such processes. We explain on an elementary mathematical level the relations…
Entropy production is a key quantity in any finite-time thermodynamic process. It is intimately tied with the fundamental laws of thermodynamics, embodying a tool to extend thermodynamic considerations all the way to non-equilibrium…
Microscopic physical laws are time-symmetric, hence, a priori there exists no preferential temporal direction. However, the second law of thermodynamics allows one to associate the "forward" temporal direction to a positive variation of the…
We derive an exact (classical and quantum) expression for the entropy production of a finite system placed in contact with one or several finite reservoirs each of which is initially described by a canonical equilibrium distribution.…
In stochastic thermodynamics, the entropy production of a thermodynamic system is defined by the irreversibility measured by the logarithm of the ratio of the path probabilities in the forward and reverse processes. We derive the relation…
Irreversibility is a fundamental concept with important implications at many levels. It pinpoints the fundamental difference between the intrinsically reversible microscopic equations of motion and the unidirectional arrow of time that…
The rate of entropy production by a stochastic process quantifies how far it is from thermodynamic equilibrium. Equivalently, entropy production captures the degree to which detailed balance and time-reversal symmetry are broken. Despite…
We consider conservative quantum evolutions possibly interrupted by macroscopic measurements. When started in a nonequilibrium state, the resulting path-space measure is not time-reversal invariant and the weight of time-reversal breaking…
The entropy production rate is a key quantity in non-equilibrium thermodynamics of both classical and quantum processes. No universal theory of entropy production is available to date, which hinders progress towards its full grasping. By…
The entropy production is one of the most essential features for systems operating out of equilibrium. The formulation for discrete-state systems goes back to the celebrated Schnakenberg's work and hitherto can be carried out when for each…
The entropy production in dissipative processes is the essence of the arrow of time and the second law of thermodynamics. For dissipation of quantum systems, it was recently shown that the entropy production contains indeed two…
It is known that the equilibrium properties of open classical systems that are strongly coupled to a heat bath are described by a set of thermodynamic potentials related to the system's Hamiltonian of mean force. By adapting this framework…
Entropy production quantifies the amount of irreversibility of a physical process, leading to fundamental bounds for thermodynamic quantities. It captures the inability to run a physical system forward and then backward, bringing it to the…
We study the entropy production rate in systems described by linear Langevin equations, containing mixed even and odd variables under time reversal. Exact formulas are derived for several important quantities in terms only of the means and…
For discrete-time stochastic processes, there is a close connection between return/waiting times and entropy. Such a connection cannot be straightforwardly extended to the continuous-time setting. Contrarily to the discrete-time case one…
We study entropy production (EP) in processes involving repeated quantum measurements of finite quantum systems. Adopting a dynamical system approach, we develop a thermodynamic formalism for the EP and study fine aspects of irreversibility…
We study the entropy production of a system with a finite number of states connected by random transition rates. The stationary entropy production, driven out of equilibrium both by asymmetric transition rates and by an external probability…
Entropy production is a fundamental concept that plays a crucial role in the second law of thermodynamics and the measure of irreversibility. It imposes rigorous constraints on the kinds of transformations allowed in thermodynamic…
We investigate the thermodynamic arrow of time in a time-symmetrically recollapsing universe by calculating quantum mechanically the entropy production of a massive scalar field. It is found that even though the Hamiltonian has a…
Entropy production is the crucial quantity characterizing irreversible phenomena and the second law of thermodynamics. Yet, a ubiquitous definition eludes consensus. Given that entropy production arises from incomplete access to…