Time in Thermodynamics

North, Jill

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199298204.003.0011

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…A number of publications seem to be content with the sufficiency of the special initial conditions in the early universe to explain all entropy increases in thermodynamically isolated systems, even if it is presumed that all laws of physics are time-symmetric [31,32]. The alternative view is that the past hypothesis is important but, on its own, is insufficient to fully explain entropy increases required by the second law.…”

Section: Discrimination Of the Past And The Future From A Philosophical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

On the effect of decoherence on quantum tunnelling

Klimenko

2021

SN Appl. Sci.

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This work proposes a series of quantum experiments that can, at least in principle, allow for examining microscopic mechanisms associated with decoherence. These experiments can be interpreted as a quantum-mechanical version of non-equilibrium mixing between two volumes separated by a thin interface. One of the principal goals of such experiments is in identifying non-equilibrium conditions when time-symmetric laws give way to time-directional, irreversible processes, which are represented by decoherence at the quantum level. The rate of decoherence is suggested to be examined indirectly, with minimal intrusions—this can be achieved by measuring tunnelling rates that, in turn, are affected by decoherence. Decoherence is understood here as a general process that does not involve any significant exchanges of energy and governed by a particular class of the Kraus operators. The present work analyses different regimes of tunnelling in the presence of decoherence and obtains formulae that link the corresponding rates of tunnelling and decoherence under different conditions. It is shown that the effects on tunnelling of intrinsic decoherence and of decoherence due to unitary interactions with the environment are similar but not the same and can be distinguished in experiments.

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Section: Discrimination Of the Past And The Future From A Philosophical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

On the effect of decoherence on quantum tunnelling

Klimenko

2021

SN Appl. Sci.

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“…However, it is only based on a qualitative argument, a quantitative test is lacking at present. Such a test would be required to see how far GRW collapses can actually get us on the road to equilibrium [62].…”

Section: Irreversibility and Approach To Equilibriummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…David Albert [54][55][56] has suggested that spontaneous collapses of the wavefunction might be responsible for the irreversible approach to equilibrium. Although it has received significant attention in philosophy of physics [57][58][59][60][61][62], rigorous physical tests of this proposal are lacking at present.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Master equations for Wigner functions with spontaneous collapse and their relation to thermodynamic irreversibility

Vrugt,

Tóth,

Wittkowski

2021

Preprint

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Wigner functions, allowing for a reformulation of quantum mechanics in phase space, are of central importance for the study of the quantum-classical transition. A full understanding of the quantum-classical transition, however, also requires an explanation for the absence of macroscopic superpositions to solve the quantum measurement problem. Stochastic reformulations of quantum mechanics based on spontaneous collapses of the wavefunction are a popular approach to this issue. In this article, we derive the dynamic equations for the four most important spontaneous collapse models -Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) theory, continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model, Diósi-Penrose model, and dissipative GRW model -in the Wigner framework. The resulting master equations are approximated by Fokker-Planck equations. Moreover, we use the phase-space form of GRW theory to test, via molecular dynamics simulations, David Albert's suggestion that the stochasticity induced by spontaneous collapses is responsible for the emergence of thermodynamic irreversibility. The simulations show that, for initial conditions leading to anti-thermodynamic behavior in the classical case, GRW-type perturbations do not lead to thermodynamic behavior. Consequently, the GRW-based equilibration mechanism proposed by Albert is not observed.

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“…Maudlin's account, however, has been little discussed in the literature. 1 The reason, I think, is that he is not explicit about what the posited direction of time consists in and how it helps explain the 1 Callender (2011b) and North (2011) do not mention Maudlin's account in their surveys of the thermodynamic asymmetry. Frisch (2014) discusses Maudlin's views about the metaphysics of time but does not attribute an original account of the thermodynamic asymmetry to him.…”

Section: §1 Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If we are to maintain that typicality arguments have any explanatory force-and it is very hard to 5 See Callender (2011a), North (2011), and Sklar (1992) for a survey of other responses to the "reversibility objection." see how we can do without them-then there must be some account of why they work only in one temporal direction.…”

Section: §1 Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fundamentality and Time’s Arrow

Loew¹

2018

Philos. of Sci.

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The distribution of matter in our universe is strikingly time asymmetric. Most famously, the Second Law of Thermodynamics says that entropy tends to increase toward the future but not toward the past. But what explains this time-asymmetric distribution of matter? In this paper, I explore the idea that time itself has a direction by drawing from recent work on grounding and metaphysical fundamentality. I will argue that positing such a direction of time, in addition to time-asymmetric boundary conditions (such as the so-called "past hypothesis"), enables a better explanation of the thermodynamic asymmetry than is available otherwise.

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Time in Thermodynamics

Cited by 22 publications

References 64 publications

On the effect of decoherence on quantum tunnelling

On the effect of decoherence on quantum tunnelling

Master equations for Wigner functions with spontaneous collapse and their relation to thermodynamic irreversibility

Fundamentality and Time’s Arrow

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