Towards a Theory of Entropy Production in the Little and Big Bang

Abstract

We propose a broadly applicable formalism for the description of coarse grained entropy production in quantum mechanical processes. Our formalism is based on the Husimi transform of the quantum state, which encodes the notion that information about any quantum state is limited by the experimental resolution. We show in two analytically tractable cases (the decay of an unstable vacuum state and reheating after cosmic inflation) that the growth rate of the Wehrl entropy associated with the Husimi function approaches the classical Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy. We also discuss various possible applications of our formalism, including the production of entropy in the early stages of a relativistic heavy ion collision.

arXiv comment21 pages, 6 figures. One section is added in v2

References in corpus (3)

• From Entropy and Jet Quenching to Deconfinement?
• Hamiltonian Dynamics of Yang-Mills Fields on a Lattice
• Jet-fluid string formation and decay in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

Cited by in corpus (25)

• Linear growth of the entanglement entropy and the Kolmogorov-Sinai rate
• Chaotic behavior in classical Yang-Mills dynamics
• Chaos in Classical D0-Brane Mechanics
• Entropy Creation in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions
• Classical and quantum entropy of parton distributions
• Quantum Lyapunov Spectrum
• Chaos in chiral condensates in gauge theories
• Evolution to the Quark-Gluon Plasma
• Quantum chaos, thermalization and entanglement generation in real-time simulations of the BFSS matrix model
• Use of the Husimi distribution for nucleon tomography
• Entropy production in classical Yang-Mills theory from Glasma initial conditions
• Phenomenological implications of asymmetric $Ad{S}_5$ shockwave collision studies for heavy ion physics
• Boltzmann entropy of a freely expanding quantum ideal gas
• Entropy production from chaoticity in Yang-Mills field theory with use of the Husimi function
• From 0 to 5000 in $2\times 10^{-24}$ seconds: Entropy production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
• What lattice theorists can do for superstring/M-theory
• Real-time dynamics of matrix quantum mechanics beyond the classical approximation
• Quantum decoherence in the entanglement entropy of a composite particle and its relationship to coarse graining in the Husimi function
• Parametric instability of classical Yang-Mills fields in a color magnetic background
• Parametric Instability of Classical Yang-Mills Fields in an Expanding Geometry
• Entropy production and equilibration in Yang-Mills quantum mechanics
• Entropy current for the relativistic Kadanoff-Baym equation and H-theorem in $O(N)$ theory with NLO self-energy of $1/N$ expansion
• Holographic Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy and the quantum Lyapunov spectrum
• Entropy production in quantum Yang-Mills mechanics in semi-classical approximation
• Real-time Quantum evolution in the Classical approximation and beyond