Entropy production and nonequilibrium stationarity in quantum dynamical systems. Physical meaning of van Hove limit

With aid of the so-called dilation method, a concise formula is obtained for the entropy production in the algebraic formulation of quantum dynamical systems. In this framework, the initial ergodic state of an external force system plays a pivotal role in generating dissipativity as a conditional expectation. The physical meaning of van Hove limit is clarified through the scale-changing transformation to control transitions between microscopic and macroscopic levels. It plays a crucial role in realizing the macroscopic stationarity in the presence of microscopic fluctuations as well as in the transition from non-Markovian (groupoid) dynamics to Markovian dissipative processes of state changes. The extension of the formalism to cases with spatial and internal inhomogeneity is indicated in the light of the groupoid dynamical systems and noncommutative integration theory.