Quantum entropy production as a measure of irreversibility

We consider conservative quantum evolutions possibly interrupted by macroscopic measurements. When started in a nonequilibrium state, the resulting path-space measure is not time-reversal invariant and the weight of time-reversal breaking equals the exponential of the entropy production. The mean entropy production can then be expressed via a relative entropy on the level of histories. This gives a partial extension of the result for classical systems, that the entropy production is given by the source term of time-reversal breaking in the path-space measure.     

Entropic characteristics of photon tomograms

We study the electromagnetic-field tomograms for classical and quantum states. We use the violation of the positivity of entropy for the photon-probability distributions for distinguishing the classical and quantum domains. We show that the photon-probability distribution expressed in terms of optical or symplectic tomograms of the photon quantum state must be a nonnegative function, which yields the nonnegative Shannon entropy. We also show that the optical tomogram of the photon classical state provides the expression for the Shannon entropy, which can be nonpositive.     

On the second law of thermodynamics: The significance of coarse-graining and the role of decoherence

We take up the question why the initial entropy in the universe was small, in the context of evolution of the entropy of a classical system. We note that coarse-graining is an important aspect of entropy evaluation which can reverse the direction of the increase in entropy, i.e., the direction of thermodynamic arrow of time. Then we investigate the role of decoherence in the selection of coarse-graining and explain how to compute entropy for a decohered classical system. Finally, we argue that the requirement of low initial entropy imposes constraints on the decoherence process.     

Wehrl-Lieb's inequality for entropy and the uncertainty relation

Wehrl has defined a new classical entropy by means of coherent states and conjectured that this entropy is greater than one. Lieb proved Wehrl's conjecture. In our note we discuss a certain reformulation of the classical entropy. We show that Wehrl's inequality for reformulated entropy implies the usual version of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation.     

Classical decays in decoherent quantum maps

The linear entropy and the Loschmidt echo have proved to be of interest recently in the context of quantum information and of the quantum to classical transitions. We study the asymptotic long-time behavior of these quantities for open quantum maps and relate the decays to the eigenvalues of a coarse-grained superoperator. In specific ranges of coarse graining, and for chaotic maps, these decay rates are given by the Ruelle-Pollicott resonances of the classical map.     

No-boundary measure of the universe

We consider the no-boundary proposal for homogeneous isotropic closed universes with a cosmological constant and a scalar field with a quadratic potential. In the semiclassical limit, it predicts classical behavior at late times if the scalar field is large enough. The classical histories may be singular in the past or bounce at a finite radius. This probability measure selects inflationary histories but is biased towards small numbers of e-foldings N. However, to obtain the probability of our observations in our past light cone these probabilities should be multiplied by exp(3N). This volume weighting is similar to that in eternal inflation. In a landscape potential, it would predict that the Universe underwent a large amount of inflation and could have always been semiclassical.     

A Two-Parameter Fractional Tsallis Decision Tree

Decision trees are decision support data mining tools that create, as the name suggests, a tree-like model. The classical C4.5 decision tree, based on the Shannon entropy, is a simple algorithm to calculate the gain ratio and then split the attributes based on this entropy measure. Tsallis and Renyi entropies (instead of Shannon) can be employed to generate a decision tree with better results. In practice, the entropic index parameter of these entropies is tuned to outperform the classical decision trees. However, this process is carried out by testing a range of values for a given database, which is time-consuming and unfeasible for massive data. This paper introduces a decision tree based on a two-parameter fractional Tsallis entropy. We propose a constructionist approach to the representation of databases as complex networks that enable us an efficient computation of the parameters of this entropy using the box-covering algorithm and renormalization of the complex network. The experimental results support the conclusion that the two-parameter fractional Tsallis entropy is a more sensitive measure than parametric Renyi, Tsallis, and Gini index precedents for a decision tree classifier.     

Entanglement Between a Single Two-Level Atom and Quantum Systems of <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-Level Atoms in the Presence of an External Classical Field

We study a single two-level atom interacting with quantum systems of N-level atoms in the presence of an external classical field. We obtain an analytic solution under a specified condition. Then we determine the time-dependent wave function through the evolution operator and employ the wave function obtained for careful investigation of the temporal evolution of the atomic inversion and linear entropy, where the influence of the external classical field is examined. Our study of the linear entropy shows that the system is almost in a mixed state, and the maximum value of entanglement occurs through the linear entropy. Furthermore, we examine the variance squeezing and entropy squeezing for different values of the external classical field parameter, which leads to different observations of the squeezing in the quadratures. In particular, it leads to an increase in the amount of squeezing for all quadratures, as well as the squeezing period.     

Complexity for Extended Dynamical Systems

We consider dynamical systems for which the spatial extension plays an important role. For these systems, the notions of attractor, ϵ-entropy and topological entropy per unit time and volume have been introduced previously. In this paper we use the notion of Kolmogorov complexity to introduce, for extended dynamical systems, a notion of complexity per unit time and volume which plays the same role as the metric entropy for classical dynamical systems. We introduce this notion as an almost sure limit on orbits of the system. Moreover we prove a kind of variational principle for this complexity.     

Quantum corrections to the entropy in a driven quantum Brownian motion model

The quantum Brownian motion model is a typical model in the study of nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics. Entropy is one of the most fundamental physical concepts in thermodynamics.In this work, by solving the quantum Langevin equation, we study the von Neumann entropy of a particle undergoing quantum Brownian motion. We obtain the analytical expression of the time evolution of the Wigner function in terms of the initial Wigner function. The result is applied to the thermodynamic equilibrium initial state, which reproduces its classical counterpart in the high temperature limit. Based on these results, for those initial states having well-defined classical counterparts, we obtain the explicit expression of the quantum corrections to the entropy in the weak coupling limit. Moreover, we find that for the thermodynamic equilibrium initial state, all terms odd in h are exactly zero. Our results bring important insights to the understanding of entropy in open quantum systems.     

Computability of entropy and information in classical Hamiltonian systems

We consider the computability of entropy and information in classical Hamiltonian systems. We define the information part and total information capacity part of entropy in classical Hamiltonian systems using relative information under a computable discrete partition. Using a recursively enumerable nonrecursive set it is shown that even though the initial probability distribution, entropy, Hamiltonian and its partial derivatives are computable under a computable partition, the time evolution of its information capacity under the original partition can grow faster than any recursive function. This implies that even though the probability measure and information are conserved in classical Hamiltonian time evolution we might not actually compute the information with respect to the original computable partition.     

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     

On the notions of entropy and information

In this review article we look for some of the historical reasons for the “identification” of the information-theoretical and thermodynamic entropy concepts. We also discuss the Baron-Jauch entropy concept and explicitly show that, for classical systems in thermodynamic equilibrium, there exists a very simple connection between this general definition and the ordinary experimental entropy.     

Quantum dynamical entropies for classical stochastic systems

We compare two proposals for the dynamical entropy of quantum deterministic systems (CNT and AFL) by studying their extensions to classical stochastic systems. We show that the natural measurement procedure leads to a simple explicit expression for the stochastic dynamical entropy with a clear information-theoretical interpretation. Finally, we compare our construction with other recent proposals.     

Zur Vieldeutigkeit der Nichtgleichgewichtsentropie in kontinuierlichen Medien

In the entropy-free thermodynamics of simple materials the second law is introduced in the form of the fundamental inequality. It is shown that an infinite number of entropy functionals can be constructed which depend on the histories of the internal energy, the heat flux and the deformation gradient. Common properties of these functionals are derived. However, until now none of these functionals has a statistical interpretation. Because of the ambiguity of the entropy it is therefore preferable to use, instead of the Clausius-Duhem-inequality, the fundamental inequality as the basis of a general thermodynamic theory, since the fundamental inequality does not contain an entropy in non-equilibrium.     

Quantum microcanonical entropy of a pair of observables

The quantum analogue of the classical theory of the joint microcanonical entropy of a pair of observables is investigated for a system of a large number of identical non-interacting subsystems. It is shown that the quantum joint entropy coincides with the classical joint entropy of an appropriately chosen auxiliary classical system, and known results for classical systems are applied to prove the equivalence of the quantum microcanonical and quantum canonical ensembles.     

Unified scheme for correlations using linear relative entropy

A linearized variant of relative entropy is used to quantify in a unified scheme the different kinds of correlations in a bipartite quantum system. As illustration, we consider a two-qubit state with parity and exchange symmetries for which we determine the total, classical and quantum correlations. We also give the explicit expressions of its closest product state, closest classical state and the corresponding closest product state. A closed additive relation, involving the various correlations quantified by linear relative entropy, is derived.     

Toward a theory of marginally efficient markets

Empirical evidence suggests that even the most competitive markets are not strictly efficient. Price histories can be used to predict near future returns with a probability better than random chance. Many markets can be considered as favorable games, in the sense that there is a small probabilistic edge that smart speculators can exploit. We propose to identify this probability using conditional entropy concept. A perfect random walk has this entropy maximized, and departure from the maximal value represents a price history's predictability. We propose that market participants should be divided into two categories: producers and speculators. The former provides the negative entropy into the price, upon which the latter feed. We show that the residual negative entropy can never be arbitraged away: infinite arbitrage capital is needed to make the price a perfect random walk.     

Defining quantum dynamical entropy

We propose an elementary definition of the dynamical entropy for a discrete-time quantum dynamical system. We apply our construction to classical dynamical systems and to the shift on a quantum spin chain. In the first case, we recover the Kolmogorov-Sinai invariant and, for the second, we find the mean entropy of the invariant state plus the logarithm of the dimension of the single-spin space.     

Role of nonequilibrium entropy in Einstein’s theory of gravitation

We employ the covariant version of a systematic framework of nonequilibrium thermodynamics to clarify the role of entropy in the classical theory of gravitation. An expression for the global entropy is identified naturally from the covariant formulation, and a dual role of the Einstein equation as a fundamental evolution equation and as a thermodynamic equation of state follows immediately. The covariant time integral of the entropy is a more fundamental quantity than the entropy itself. In the absence of matter, the gravitational entropy alone cannot generate any irreversible processes. Some implications for the structure of a quantum theory of gravity are discussed.