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The second law of thermodynamics - the usual statement of the arrow of time - has been called the most fundamental law of physics. It is thus difficult to conceive that a single dynamical system could contain subsystems, in significant…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2007-05-23 L. S. Schulman

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…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-11-29 Giulia Rubino , Gonzalo Manzano , Časlav Brukner

Deriving an arrow of time from time-reversal symmetric microscopic dynamics is a fundamental open problem in many areas of physics, ranging from cosmology, to particle physics, to thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. Here we focus on…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-01-31 Thomas Guff , Chintalpati Umashankar Shastry , Andrea Rocco

In both thermodynamics and quantum mechanics the arrow of time is characterized by the statistical likelihood of physical processes. We characterize this arrow of time for the continuous quantum measurement dynamics of a superconducting…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-07-17 P. M. Harrington , D. Tan , M. Naghiloo , K. W. Murch

The mechanism by which thermodynamics sets the direction of time's arrow has long fascinated scientists. Here, we show that a machine learning algorithm can learn to discern the direction of time's arrow when provided with a system's…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2019-09-30 Alireza Seif , Mohammad Hafezi , Christopher Jarzynski

Consider a Hamiltonian system that consists of a slow subsystem S and a fast subsystem F. The autonomous dynamics of S is driven by an effective Hamiltonian, but its thermodynamics is unexpected. We show that a well-defined thermodynamic…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2009-11-13 Armen E. Allahverdyan , Dominik Janzing

While the microscopic laws of physics are often symmetric under time reversal, most natural processes that we observe are not. The emergent asymmetry between typical and time-reversed processes is referred to as the arrow of time. In…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-12-23 Luis Pedro García-Pintos , Yi-Kai Liu , Alexey V. Gorshkov

Based on the hypothesis that the (non-reversible) arrow of time is intrinsic in any system, no matter how small, the consequences are discussed. Within the framework of local quantum physics it is shown how such a semi-group action of time…

Mathematical Physics · Physics 2023-05-22 Detlev Buchholz , Klaus Fredenhagen

Understanding the emergence of the thermodynamic arrow of time in microscopic systems is of fundamental importance, particularly given that unitary evolution preserves time-reversal symmetry. While projective measurements introduce temporal…

We investigate the statistical arrow of time for a quantum system being monitored by a sequence of measurements. For a continuous qubit measurement example, we demonstrate that time-reversed evolution is always physically possible, provided…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2017-12-06 Justin Dressel , Areeya Chantasri , Andrew N. Jordan , Alexander N. Korotkov

Many physicists think that the maximum entropy formalism is a straightforward application of Bayesian statistical ideas to statistical mechanics. Some even say that statistical mechanics is just the general Bayesian logic of inductive…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2007-05-23 Cosma Rohilla Shalizi

We study a quantum theory with complex time parameter and non-Hermitian Hamiltonian structure. In this theory, the real part of the complex time is equal to `usual' physical time, whereas the imaginary one is proportional to inverse…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2007-05-23 Vadim V. Asadov , Oleg V. Kechkin

Statistical physics cannot explain why a thermodynamic arrow of time exists, unless one postulates very special and unnatural initial conditions. Yet, we argue that statistical physics can explain why the thermodynamic arrow of time is…

General Physics · Physics 2012-10-10 Oleg Kupervasser , Hrvoje Nikolić , Vinko Zlatić

It is shown, that quantum theory with complex evolutionary time parameter and non-Hermitian Hamiltonian structure can be used for natural unification of quantum and thermodynamic principles. The theory is postulated as analytical in respect…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2007-05-23 Vadim V. Asadov , Oleg V. Kechkin

An unresolved problem in physics is how the thermodynamic arrow of time arises from an underlying time reversible dynamics. We contribute to this issue by developing a measure of time-symmetry breaking, and by using the work fluctuation…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2008-11-26 Edward H. Feng , Gavin E. Crooks

It is widely believed that special initial conditions must be imposed on any time-symmetric law if its solutions are to exhibit behavior of any kind that defines an `arrow of time'. We show that this is not so. The simplest non-trivial…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2015-08-05 Julian Barbour , Tim Koslowski , Flavio Mercati

The arrow of time dilemma: the laws of physics are invariant for time inversion, whereas the familiar phenomena we see everyday are not (i.e. entropy increases). I show that, within a quantum mechanical framework, all phenomena which leave…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2010-04-22 Lorenzo Maccone

Uncovering the origin of the arrow of time remains a fundamental scientific challenge. Within the framework of statistical physics, this problem was inextricably associated with the second law of thermodynamics, which declares that entropy…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-02-27 G. B. Lesovik , I. A. Sadovskyy , M. V. Suslov , A. V. Lebedev , V. M. Vinokur

Measurement-induced phase transitions (MIPTs) in monitored quantum systems are typically diagnosed using entanglement-based measures. Here, we develop a complementary thermodynamic perspective based on the arrow of time (AoT), which arises…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2026-04-23 Nitay Hurvitz , Alon Kochol , Victor Fleurov , Eran Sela

It is generally believed that a cosmological arrow of time must be associated with entropy production. Indeed, in his seminal work on cyclic cosmology, Tolman introduced a viscous fluid in order to make successive expansion/contraction…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2018-10-26 Varun Sahni , Yuri Shtanov , Aleksey Toporensky
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