Related papers: Quantum Theory and Time Asymmetry
For decades, researchers have sought to understand how the irreversibility of the surrounding world emerges from the seemingly time symmetric, fundamental laws of physics. Quantum mechanics conjectured a clue that final irreversibility is…
In Quantum Physics there are circumstances where the direct measurement of particular observables encounters diffculties; in some of these cases, however, its value can be evaluated, i.e. it can be inferred by measuring another observable…
We investigate a thermodynamic arrow associated with quantum projective measurements in terms of the Jensen-Shannon divergence between the probability distribution of energy change caused by the measurements and its time reversal…
The first law of thermodynamics imposes not just a constraint on the energy-content of systems in extreme quantum regimes, but also symmetry-constraints related to the thermodynamic processing of quantum coherence. We show that this…
A simple model of quantum particle is proposed in which the particle in a {\it macroscopic} rest frame is represented by a {\it microscopic d}-dimensional oscillator, {\it s=(d-1)/2} being the spin of the particle. The state vectors are…
Predictions for measurement outcomes in physical theories are usually computed by combining two distinct notions: a state, describing the physical system, and an observable, describing the measurement which is performed. In quantum theory,…
Indirect measurement can be used to read out the outcome of a quantum system without resorting to a straightforward approach, and it is the foundation of the measurement uncertainty relations that explain the incompatibility of conjugate…
The recently established universal uncertainty principle revealed that two nowhere commuting observables can be measured simultaneously in some state, whereas they have no joint probability distribution in any state. Thus, one measuring…
The principle of microscopic reversibility is a fundamental element in the formulation of fluctuation relations and the Onsager reciprocal relations. As such, a clear description of whether and how this principle is adapted to the quantum…
In both classical and quantum physics, irreversible processes are described by maps that contract the space of states. The change in volume has often been taken as a natural quantifier of the amount of irreversibility. In Bayesian…
It can be argued that the ordinary description of the reversible quantum process between two one-to-one correlated measurement outcomes is incomplete because, by not specifying the direction of causality, it allows causal structures that…
This article aims to explain some of the basic facts about the questions raised in the title, without the technical details that are available in the literature. We provide a gentle introduction to some rather classical results about…
The measurement problem and the role of observers have plagued quantum mechanics since its conception. Attempts to resolve these have introduced anthropomorphic or non-realist notions into physics. A shift of perspective based upon process…
The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy increases (or does not change) by time in an isolated system. As microscopic physical laws are reversible, the origin of irreversibility is not straightforward. Although the outcome of a…
We propose a quantum clock synchronization protocol in which Bob makes a remote measurement on Alice's quantum clock via a third qubit acting as its proxy. It is shown that the resulting correlations are dependent on the choice of the…
The principle of microscopic reversibility lies at the core of fluctuation theorems, which have extended our understanding of the second law of thermodynamics to the statistical level. In the quantum regime, however, this elementary…
The algebra of observables associated with a quantum field theory is invariant under the connected component of the Lorentz group and under parity reversal, but it is not invariant under time reversal. If we take general covariance…
It is generally admitted in thermodynamics that, for a given change in volume, the work done by a system is greater in conditions of reversibility than in conditions of irreversibility. If the basic conventions of physics are strictly…
Quantum theory depends on an external classical time, and there ought to exist an equivalent reformulation of the theory which does not depend on such a time. The demand for the existence of such a reformulation suggests that quantum theory…
Every measurement determines a single value as its outcome, and yet quantum mechanics predicts it only probabilistically. The Kochen-Specker theorem and Bell's inequality are often considered to reject a realist view but favor a skeptical…