Relaxation into equilibrium under pure Schrödinger dynamics

Abstract

We consider bipartite quantum systems that are described completely by a state vector $|\Psi (t)>$ and the fully deterministic Schrödinger equation. Under weak constraints and without any artificially introduced decoherence or irreversibility, the smaller of the two subsystems shows thermodynamic behaviour like relaxation into an equilibrium, maximization of entropy and the emergence of the Boltzmann energy distribution. This generic behaviour results from entanglement.

5 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (2)

• From Quantum Dynamics to the Canonical Distribution: General Picture and a Rigorous Example
• Quantum Approach to a Derivation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics

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