The generalized second law of thermodynamics and cosmological decoherence

Abstract

We pointed out that the generalized second law of thermodynamics on a de Sitter universe whose energy density stochastically fluctuates due to quantum fluctuations is seemingly violated. We have shown that even in such a case, the generalized second law is unviolated by taking cosmological decoherence into account. It has been well known that the decoherence is necessary to give a reasonable reason why our universe looks classical. Our proposal can support the importance of decoherence from another aspect, i.e. the generalized second law of thermodynamics.

5 pages, 2 figures; v2: minor corrections, references added, accepted for publication in PRD