A new microscopic level of irreversibility
Ilya Prigogine
In this paper, the non-exponential decay is analyzed with the help of simple computer experiments performed by T. Petrosky, simulating classical radiation damping. The non-exponential decay is studied and shown to depend on the preparation of the system. However, whatever the initial preparation, the system reaches the decay predicted by classical radiation theory after a short time we call the Zeno's time. The similitude of Petrosky's results with computer experiments for the approach to equilibrium in many-body systems is emphasized. However, while there one deals with times which are multiple of the relaxation time, the irreversibility manifest in radiation theory occurs always over a much shorter time scale, the Zeno's time. In atomic systems, this would be a time order of 10/sup /minus/18/ seconds. These results are of great interest for the understanding of the microscopic mechanism of radiation. Let us consider a charged oscillator. In a first stage, this oscillator has to produce the field oscillators to which it may transfer energy through the usual resonance mechanism. Radiation appears therefore as a kind of non linear autocatalytic process, involving a self-organization mechanism. The behavior during the Zeno period can be explained easily in terms of subdynamics as introduced by the Brussel's group. We see that there is no transition from reversibility to irreversibility. Irreversible processes start at the very moment at which the system is prepared. It is important to stress that an unstable particle is itself the result of irreversible processes. As a result, an unstable particle (or an excited atomic state) can no more be described in terms of wave functions, as irreversible processes are not included in Schroedinger's equation. 14 refs. 3 figs.
•Jan 1, 1987•1 citation