Irreversibility and Mechanics

Richard Schlegel

Yutaka Toyozawa

Arguments are presented for the viewpoint that irreversibility is inherent in quanturn mechanics, irrespective of the number of particles participating. This fact is related to the notion of transition–ramifying evolution–which is characteristic of quantum mechanics. It is in contrast to classical mechanics based on the notion of orbit, where the irreversibility arises only as the result of a large number of particles or a certain complexity of the system. The statistical assumption needed for the derivation of irreversibility in classical mechanics is absorbed into the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics, and is revived as inherent irreversibility. The statements conform with the parallelism of quantum mechanics and classical statistical mechanics emphasized in a previous report.

Danker L. N. Vink

Pedro Fernández de Córdoba, J. M. Isidro, Milton H. Perea +1 more

We elaborate on the existing notion that quantum mechanics is an emergent phenomenon, by presenting a thermodynamical theory that is dual to quantum mechanics. This dual theory is that of classical irreversible thermodynamics. The linear regime of irreversibility considered here corresponds to the semiclassical approximation in quantum mechanics. An important issue we address is how the irreversibility of time evolution in thermodynamics is mapped onto the quantum-mechanical side of the correspondence.

Pedro Fernández de Córdoba, J. M. Isidro, Milton H. Perea +1 more

We elaborate on the existing notion that quantum mechanics is an emergent phenomenon, by presenting a thermodynamical theory that is dual to quantum mechanics. This dual theory is that of classical irreversible thermodynamics. The linear regime of irreversibility considered here corresponds to the semiclassical approximation in quantum mechanics. An important issue we address is how the irreversibility of time evolution in thermodynamics is mapped onto the quantum-mechanical side of the correspondence.

Baidyanath Misra