Related papers: Pure State Quantum Statistical Mechanics
Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble. Classically this is the manifold of all points in the N-body phase space with the given total energy. Due to Boltzmann-Planck's principle,…
The indeterminism of quantum mechanics generally permits the independent specification of both an initial and a final condition on the state. Quantum pre-and-post-selection of states opens up a new, experimentally testable, sector of…
A classical particle system coupled with a thermostat driven by an external constant force reaches its steady state when the ensemble-averaged drift velocity does not vary with time. The statistical mechanics of such a system is derived…
We sketch a quantum mechanical framework for the universe as a whole. Within that framework we propose a program for describing the ultimate origin in quantum cosmology of the quasiclassical domain of familiar experience and for…
In this paper, inspired by the "Minimum Description Length Principle" in classical Statistics, we introduce a new method for predicting the outcomes of a quantum measurement and for estimating the state of a quantum system with minimum…
A new, realist interpretation of the quantum measurement processes is given. In this scenario a quantum measurement is a non-equilibrium phase transition in a ``resonant cavity'' formed by the entire physical universe including all its…
Measurement is a fundamental notion in the usual approximate quantum mechanics of measured subsystems. Probabilities are predicted for the outcomes of measurements. State vectors evolve unitarily in between measurements and by reduction of…
This review, of the understanding of quantum mechanics, is broad in scope, and aims to reflect enough of the literature to be representative of the current state of the subject. To enhance clarity, the main findings are presented in the…
In any given experimental scenario, the rules of quantum theory provide statistical distributions that the observed outcomes are expected to follow. The set formed by all these distributions contains the imprint of quantum theory, capturing…
The main purpose of this tutorial is to elucidate in details what should be meant by ensemble of states in quantum mechanics, and to properly address the problem of discriminating, exactly or approximately, two different ensembles. To this…
Before the thermodynamic limit, macroscopic averages need not commute for a quantum system. As a consequence, aspects of macroscopic fluctuations or of constrained equilibrium require a careful analysis, when dealing with several…
In a quantum universe with a strong arrow of time, we postulate a low-entropy boundary condition (the Past Hypothesis) to account for the temporal asymmetry. In this paper, I show that the Past Hypothesis also contains enough information to…
We solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for the combination of a spin system interacting with a spin bath environment. In particular, we focus on the time development of the reduced density matrix of the spin system. Under normal…
We develop a general formulation of quantum statistical mechanics in terms of probability currents that satisfy continuity equations in the multi-particle position space, for closed and open systems with a fixed number of particles. The…
A rigorous theory of quantum state reduction, the state change of the measured system caused by a measurement conditional upon the outcome of measurement, is developed fully within quantum mechanics without leading to the vicious circle…
Through extended consideration of two wide classes of case studies -- dilute gases and linear systems -- I explore the ways in which assumptions of probability and irreversibility occur in contemporary statistical mechanics, where the…
The origin of non-classical correlations is difficult to identify since the uncertainty principle requires that information obtained about one observable invariably results in the disturbance of any other non-commuting observable. Here,…
A quantum statistical model of nuclear multifragmentation is proposed. The recurrence equation method used within the canonical ensemble makes the model solvable and transparent to physical assumptions and allows to get results without…
We provide an overview of a canonical formalism that describes mixed quantum-classical systems in terms of statistical ensembles on configuration space, and discuss applications to measurement theory. It is shown that the formalism allows a…
Reduction is shown to be a possible consequence of the basic principles of quantum mechanics, involving no branching of the quantum state of the universe. The key feature of a measurement is attributed to the creation of macroscopic germs…