Environment Induced Time Arrow

Abstract

The spread of the time arrows from the environment to an observed subsystem is followed within a harmonic model. A similarity is pointed out between irreversibility and a phase with spontaneously broken symmetry. The causal structure of interaction might be lost in the irreversible case, as well. The Closed Time Path formalism is developed for classical systems and shown to handle the time arrow problem in a clear and flexible manner. The quantum case is considered, as well, and the common origin of irreversibility and decoherence is pointed out.

To appear in "The Time-arrow and Anthropic Principle", Open Academic Press, Berlin