Positive Commutator Method in Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics

We extend the method of positive commutators, which was very successfully applied to zero temperature problems, to positive temperatures, i.e. to nonequilibrium quantum statistical mechanics. Using this technique, we give another proof of a fundamental property of large quantum systems, called Return to Equilibrium. This property says that if a system is slightly perturbed from its equilibrium state, then it converges back to it as time goes to infinity.     

The formalism of equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics revisited

It is shown that the traditional formalism of equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics may fully be incorporated into a general macro-observable approach to quantum statistical mechanics recently proposed by the same author. ^(1,2) In particular, the partition functions which in the traditional approach are assumed to connect nonnormalized density operators with thermodynamic functions are reinterpreted as functions connecting so-called quantum mechanical effect operators with state parameters. It is argued that these functions although only part of a much richer internal structure of the macro-observable are sufficient to cope with all problems one usually encounters in equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics. p]Denn eigentlich unternehmen wir umsonst, das Wesen eines Dinges auszudrücken. Wirkungen werden wir gewahr, und eine vollständige Geschichte dieser Wirkungen umfaßte wohl allenfalls das Wesen jenes Dinges. Johann W. v. Goethe Farbenlehre     

Non-Equilibrium Steady States of Finite¶Quantum Systems Coupled to Thermal Reservoirs

We study the non-equilibrium statistical mechanics of a 2-level quantum system, ?, coupled to two independent free Fermi reservoirs ?₁, ?₂, which are in thermal equilibrium at inverse temperatures β₁≠β₂. We prove that, at small coupling, the combined quantum system ?+?₁+?₂ has a unique non-equilibrium steady state (NESS) and that the approach to this NESS is exponentially fast. We show that the entropy production of the coupled system is strictly positive and relate this entropy production to the heat fluxes through the system. A part of our argument is general and deals with spectral theory of NESS. In the abstract setting of algebraic quantum statistical mechanics we introduce the new concept of the C-Liouvillean, L, and relate the NESS to zero resonance eigenfunctions of L ^*. In the specific model ?+?₁+?₂ we study the resonances of L ^* using the complex deformation technique developed previously by the authors in [JP1]. Dedicated to Jean Michel Combes on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday Received: 12 July 2001 / Accepted: 11 October 2001     

Low frequency asymptotics for the spin-weighted spheroidal equation in the case of s=1/2

The spin-weighted spheroidal equation in the case of s=1/2 is thoroughly studied by using the perturbation method from the supersymmetric quantum mechanics.The first-five terms of the superpotential in the series of parameter β are given.The general form for the n-th term of the superpotential is also obtained,which could also be derived from the previous terms W k,k < n.From these results,it is easy to obtain the ground eigenfunction of the equation.Furthermore,the shape-invariance property in the series of parameter β is investigated and is proven to be kept.This nice property guarantees that the excited eigenfunctions in the series form can be obtained from the ground eigenfunction by using the method from the supersymmetric quantum mechanics.We show the perturbation method in supersymmetric quantum mechanics could completely solve the spin-weight spheroidal wave equations in the series form of the small parameter β.     

Quantum Chaos and Dynamical Entropy

We review the notion of dynamical entropy by Connes, Narnhofer and Thirring and relate it to Quantum Chaos. A particle in a periodic potential is used as an example. This is worked out in the classical and the quantum mechanical framework, for the single particle as well as for the corresponding gas. The comparison does not only support the general assertion that quantum mechanics is qualitatively less chaotic than classical mechanics. More specifically, the same dynamical mechanism by which a periodic potential leads to a positive dynamical entropy of the classical particle may reduce the dynamical entropy of the quantum gas in comparison to free motion. Received: 26 June 1997 / Accepted: 13 April 1998     

Nonequilibrium quantum meson gas: Dimensional reduction

A nonequilibrium quantum gas of interacting relativistic effective mesons, ressembling qualitatively those produced in a heavy-ion collision, is described by a scalar quantum field in (1 + 3) -dimensional Minkowski space. For high temperature and large temporal and spatial scales, we justify that classical statistical mechanics including quantum renormalization effects describe approximately the gas: nonequilibrium dimensional reduction (NEDR). As a source of hints, we treat the gas at equilibrium in real-time formalism and obtain simplifications for high temperature and large spatial scales, thereby extending a useful equilibrium dimensional reduction known for the imaginary-time formalism. By assumption, the nonequilibrium initial state of the gas, not far from thermal equilibrium, includes interactions and inhomogeneities. We use nonequilibrium real-time generating functionals and correlators at nonzero temperature. In the NEDR regime, our arguments yield: 1) renormalized correlators simplify, 2) the perturbative series for those simplified correlators can be resummed into a new nonequilibrium generating functional, Z’ _{r, dr} , which is super-renormalizable and includes renormalization effects (large position-dependent thermal self-energies and effective couplings). Z’ _{r, dr} could enable to study nonperturbatively changes in the phase structures of the field, by proceeding from the nonequilibrium quantum regime to the NEDR one.     

Spin-weighted spheroidal equation in the case of s=1

We present a series of studies to solve the spin-weighted spheroidal wave equation by using the method of super-symmetric quantum mechanics. We first obtain the first four terms of super-potential of the spin-weighted spheroidal wave equation in the case of s = 1. These results may help summarize the general form for the n-th term of the super-potential, which is proved to be correct by means of induction. Then we compute the eigen-values and the eigen- functions for the ground state. Finally, the shape-invariance property is proved and the eigen-values and eigen-functions for excited states are obtained. All the results may be of significance for studying the electromagnetic radiation processes near rotating black holes and computing the radiation reaction in curved space-time.     

p-adic quantum mechanics

An extension of the formalism of quantum mechanics to the case where the canonical variables are valued in a field ofp-adic numbers is considered. In particular the free particle and the harmonic oscillator are considered. In classicalp-adic mechanics we consider time as ap-adic variable and coordinates and momentum orp-adic or real. For the case ofp-adic coordinates and momentum quantum mechanics with complex amplitudes is constructed. It is shown that the Weyl representation is an adequate formulation in this case. For harmonic oscillator the evolution operator is constructed in an explicit form. For primesp of the form 4l+1 generalized vacuum states are constructed. The spectra of the evolution operator have been investigated. Thep-adic quantum mechanics is also formulated by means of probability measures over the space of generalized functions. This theory obeys an unusual property: the propagator of a massive particle has power decay at infinity, but no exponential one.     

Calculating the C Operator in PT-symmetric Quantum Mechanics

It has recently been shown that a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian H possessing an unbroken PT symmetry (i) has a real spectrum that is bounded below, and (ii) defines a unitary theory of quantum mechanics with positive norm. The proof of unitarity requires a linear operator C, which was originally defined as a sum over the eigenfunctions of H. However, using this definition it is cumbersome to calculate C in quantum mechanics and impossible in quantum field theory. An alternative method is devised here for calculating C directly in terms of the operator dynamical variables of the quantum theory. This new method is general and applies to a variety of quantum mechanical systems having several degrees of freedom. More importantly, this method can be used to calculate the C operator in quantum field theory. The C operator is a new time-independent observable in PT-symmetric quantum field theory.     

About the non vanishing of boundary terms in correlation functions as origin of phase transitions. A microscopic proof of a Goldstone theorem in classical statistical mechanics

We give a general microscopic proof that the well known Goldstone theorem connected with spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum statistical mechanics and quantum field theory has a counterpart in classical statistical mechanics. Our approach is mainly based on the replacement of commutators by Poisson brackets as infinitesimal generators of symmetries and on the Fourier transformed version of the so called Kubo-Martin-Schwinger property of equilibrium states. Especially we show that the phase transition is related to the non vanishing of certain boundary contributions in Poisson brackets which from the naive point of view should vanish.     

On the Orthocomplementation of State–Property–Systems of Contextual Systems

We adopt an operational approach to quantum mechanics in which a physical system is defined by the mathematical structure of its set of states and properties. We present a model in which the maximal change of state of the system due to interaction with the measurement context is controlled by a parameter which corresponds with the number N of possible outcomes in an experiment. In the case N=2 the system reduces to a model for the spin measurements on a quantum spin-1/2 particle. In the limit N→∞ the system is classical, i.e. the experiments are deterministic and its set of properties is a Boolean lattice. For intermediate situations the change of state due to measurement is neither ‘maximal’ (i.e. quantum) nor ‘zero’ (i.e. classical). We show that two of the axioms used in Piron’s representation theorem for quantum mechanics are violated, namely the covering law and weak modularity. Next, we discuss a modified version of the model for which it is even impossible to define an orthocomplementation on the set of properties. Another interesting feature for the intermediate situations of this model is that the probability of a state transition in general not only depends on the two states involved, but also on the measurement context which induces the state transition.     

Interacting Bosons at Finite Temperature: How Bogolubov Visited a Black Hole and Came Home Again

The structure of the thermal equilibrium state of a weakly interacting Bose gas is of current interest. We calculate the density matrix of that state in two ways. The most effective method, in terms of yielding a simple, explicit answer, is to construct a generating function within the traditional framework of quantum statistical mechanics. The alternative method, arguably more interesting, is to construct the thermal state as a vector state in an artificial system with twice as many degrees of freedom. It is well known that this construction has an actual physical realization in the quantum thermodynamics of black holes, where the added degrees of freedom correspond to the second sheet of the Kruskal manifold and the thermal vector state is a state of the Unruh or the Hartle–Hawking type. What is unusual about the present work is that the Bogolubov transformation used to construct the thermal state combines in a rather symmetrical way with Bogolubov's original transformation of the same form, used to implement the interaction of the nonideal gas in linear approximation. In addition to providing a density matrix, the method makes it possible to calculate efficiently certain expectation values directly in terms of the thermal vector state of the doubled system.     

‘Return to Equilibrium’ for Weakly Coupled Quantum Systems: A Simple Polymer Expansion

Recently, several authors studied small quantum systems weakly coupled to free boson or fermion fields at positive temperature. All the rigorous approaches we are aware of employ complex deformations of Liouvillians or Mourre theory (the infinitesimal version of the former). We present an approach based on polymer expansions of statistical mechanics. Despite the fact that our approach is elementary, our results are slightly sharper than those contained in the literature up to now. We show that, whenever the small quantum system is known to admit a Markov approximation (Pauli master equation aka Lindblad equation) in the weak coupling limit, and the Markov approximation is exponentially mixing, then the weakly coupled system approaches a unique invariant state that is perturbatively close to its Markov approximation.     

On the assumption of initial factorization in the master equation for weakly coupled systems I: General framework

We analyze the dynamics of a quantum mechanical system in interaction with a reservoir when the initial state is not factorized. In the weak-coupling (van Hove) limit, the dynamics can be properly described in terms of a master equation, but a consistent application of Nakajima-Zwanzig’s projection method requires that the reference (not necessarily equilibrium) state of the reservoir be endowed with the mixing property.     

A Stochastic Mechanics Based on Bohm‧s Theory and its Connection with Quantum Mechanics

We construct a stochastic mechanics by replacing Bohm‧s first-order ordinary differential equation of motion with a stochastic differential equation where the stochastic process is defined by the set of Bohmian momentum time histories from an ensemble of particles. We show that, if the stochastic process is a purely random process with n-th order joint probability density in the form of products of delta functions, then the stochastic mechanics is equivalent to quantum mechanics in the sense that the former yields the same position probability density as the latter. However, for a particular non-purely random process, we show that the stochastic mechanics is not equivalent to quantum mechanics. Whether the equivalence between the stochastic mechanics and quantum mechanics holds for all purely random processes but breaks down for all non-purely random processes remains an open question.     

Time and Causality: A Thermocontextual Perspective

The thermocontextual interpretation (TCI) is an alternative to the existing interpretations of physical states and time. The prevailing interpretations are based on assumptions rooted in classical mechanics, the logical implications of which include determinism, time symmetry, and a paradox: determinism implies that effects follow causes and an arrow of causality, and this conflicts with time symmetry. The prevailing interpretations also fail to explain the empirical irreversibility of wavefunction collapse without invoking untestable and untenable metaphysical implications. They fail to reconcile nonlocality and relativistic causality without invoking superdeterminism or unexplained superluminal correlations. The TCI defines a system’s state with respect to its actual surroundings at a positive ambient temperature. It recognizes the existing physical interpretations as special cases which either define a state with respect to an absolute zero reference (classical and relativistic states) or with respect to an equilibrium reference (quantum states). Between these special case extremes is where thermodynamic irreversibility and randomness exist. The TCI distinguishes between a system’s internal time and the reference time of relativity and causality as measured by an external observer’s clock. It defines system time as a complex property of state spanning both reversible mechanical time and irreversible thermodynamic time. Additionally, it provides a physical explanation for nonlocality that is consistent with relativistic causality without hidden variables, superdeterminism, or “spooky action”.     

Analytic solutions of the ground and excited states of the spin-weighted spheroidal equation in the case of s=2

By using the super-symmetric quantum mechanics (SUSYQM) method, this paper obtains the analytical solutions for the spin-weighted spheroidal wave equation in the case of s = 2. Based on the derived W 0 to W 4 the general form for the n-th-order super-potential is summarized and is proved correct by mathematical induction. Hence the ground eigenvalue problem is completely solved. Particularly, the novel solutions of the excited state are investigated according to the shape-invariance property.