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18 - Irreversibility in Unitary Quantum Field Theory

from Part V - Decoherence, Spontaneous Coherence, and Spontaneous Collapse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2024

David W. Snoke
David W. Snoke
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
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Summary

This chapter begins the final section of the book, which presents both review and new results of original research on decoherence and measurement theory. In this chapter, it is shown that normal quantum mechanics can lead to irreversible behavior in an open system, in contrast to the expectation of the Poincaré theorem that predicts repeating, cyclical behavior for all closed systems. The quantum Boltzmann equation, which implies the famous H-theorem that underlies all statistical mechanics, is derived.

Keywords

irreversibilitydecoherencePoincaré theoremquantum Boltzmann equationH-theoremstatistical mechanicsentropy
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Chapter
Information
Interpreting Quantum Mechanics
Modern Foundations
 , pp. 267 - 277
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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