The second law of thermodynamics under unitary evolution and external operations |
| |
Authors: | Tatsuhiko N Ikeda Naoyuki Sakumichi Anatoli Polkovnikov Masahito Ueda |
| |
Institution: | 1. Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan;2. Physics Department, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA;3. Theoretical Research Division, Nishina Center, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan |
| |
Abstract: | The von Neumann entropy cannot represent the thermodynamic entropy of equilibrium pure states in isolated quantum systems. The diagonal entropy, which is the Shannon entropy in the energy eigenbasis at each instant of time, is a natural generalization of the von Neumann entropy and applicable to equilibrium pure states. We show that the diagonal entropy is consistent with the second law of thermodynamics upon arbitrary external unitary operations. In terms of the diagonal entropy, thermodynamic irreversibility follows from the facts that quantum trajectories under unitary evolution are restricted by the Hamiltonian dynamics and that the external operation is performed without reference to the microscopic state of the system. |
| |
Keywords: | Statistical mechanics Thermodynamics Quantum pure states Isolated quantum systems |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|