A unified quantum-classical theory of the thermal properties of ice, liquid water and steam

Abstract

The thermal properties of ice, liquid water and steam are at odds with statistical theories applied to many-body systems. Here, these properties are quantitatively explained with a bulk-scale matter field emerging from the indefinite status of the microscopic constituents. Such a field is characterized by its symmetry in spacetime, its degree of degeneracy and its eigenstates. There are several one-to-one correspondences bridging outcomes of classical and quantum measurements. (i) The heat capacities are linked to the symmetry of the field for each phase of water. (ii) The latent heats are linked to the change of the degree of degeneracy for each transition. (iii) The critical temperatures are linked to the eigenstates of the potential operator. The matter field leads to a complete representation of the phases of water, free of hidden parameters and statistical ignorance