Related papers: Decoherence, Chaos, and the Second Law
We formulate the conditions under which the dynamics of a continuously measured quantum system becomes indistinguishable from that of the corresponding classical system. In particular, we demonstrate that even in a classically chaotic…
Classical chaotic dynamics is characterized by the exponential sensitivity to initial conditions. Quantum mechanics, however, does not show this feature. We consider instead the sensitivity of quantum evolution to perturbations in the…
It was previously argued that the phenomenon of quantum gravitational decoherence described by the Wheeler-DeWitt equation is responsible for the emergence of the arrow of time. Here we show that the characteristic spatio-temporal scales of…
Environment-induced decoherence has long been recognised as being of crucial importance in the study of chaos in quantum systems. In particular, the exact form and strength of the system-environment interaction play a major role in the…
The spread of the time arrows from the environment to an observed subsystem is followed within a harmonic model. A similarity is pointed out between irreversibility and a phase with spontaneously broken symmetry. The causal structure of…
We show that some classically chaotic quantum systems uncoupled from noisy environments may generate intrinsic decoherence with all its associated effects. In particular, we have observed time irreversibility and high sensitivity to small…
We study dynamics of quantum open systems, paying special attention to those aspects of their evolution which are relevant to the transition from quantum to classical. We begin with a discussion of the conditional dynamics of simple…
We study a simplified Heisenberg spin model in order to clarify the idea of decoherence in closed quantum systems. For this purpose, we define a new concept: the decoherence function \Xi(t), which describes the dynamics of decoherence in…
It is widely recognized that entanglement generation and dynamical chaos are intimately related in semiclassical models via the process of decoherence. In this work, we propose a unifying framework which directly connects the bipartite and…
All the laws of physics are time-reversible. Time arrow emerges only when ensembles of classical particles are treated probabilistically, outside of physics laws, and the entropy and the second law of thermodynamics are introduced. In…
We investigate the origin of the arrow of time in quantum mechanics in the context of quantum cosmology. The ``Copenhagen'' quantum mechanics of measured subsystems incorporates a fundamental arrow of time. Extending discussions of…
We investigate how decoherence affects the short-time separation between quantum and classical dynamics for classically chaotic systems, within the framework of a specific model. For a wide range of parameters, the distance between the…
In orthodox quantum theory, decoherence is presumed to be caused by observation. In this paper, the idea of replacing observation, as the cause of decoherence, with rules derived from the dynamics of the system is addressed. Such rules…
If an asymmetry in time does not arise from the fundamental dynamical laws of physics, it may be found in special boundary conditions. The argument normally goes that since thermodynamic entropy in the past is lower than in the future…
Living systems are fundamentally irreversible, breaking detailed balance and establishing an arrow of time. But how does the evident arrow of time for a whole system arise from the interactions among its multiple elements? We show that the…
Our observed Universe has a very strong arrow of time rooted in its low entropy starting point. This low entropy start can be related to various "tuning puzzles" about the early state of the Universe. Here we explore the relationship…
We establish that the entropy production rate of a classically chaotic Hamiltonian system coupled to the environment settles, after a transient, to a meta-stable value given by the sum of positive generalized Lyapunov exponents. A…
The arrow of time is an irreversible phenomenon for a system of particles undergoing reversible dynamics. Since the time of Boltzmann to this day, the arrow of time has led to debate and research. However, the enormous growth of…
It has been claimed that decoherence of open quantum systems explains the tendency of macroscopic systems to exhibit quasiclassical behavior. We show that quasiclassicality is in fact an unremarkable property, characterizing generic…
We present evidence that decoherence can produce a smooth quantum-to-classical transition in nonlinear dynamical systems. High-resolution tracking of quantum and classical evolutions reveals differences in expectation values of…