Quantum theory and time asymmetry

Viatcheslav Mukhanov

Arno Böhm

Arno Böhm, Hani Kaldass, Soliman R. Komy

It is explained how the unification of resonance and decay phenomena into a consistent mathematical theory leads to quantum mechanical time-asymmetry. This provides the theoretical basis for a subsequent paper II in which the interpretation and experimental demonstration of this time-asymmetry is discussed.

Kaifeng Bu, Heng Fan, Arun Kumar Pati +1 more

We propose the resource theory of a special antiunitary asymmetry in quantum theory. The notion of antiunitary asymmetry, in particular, ${\cal PT}$-asymmetry is different from the usual resource theory for asymmetry about unitary representation of a symmetry group, as the ${\cal PT}$ operator is an antiunitary operator with ${\cal P}$ being any self-inverse unitary and ${\cal T}$ being the time-reversal operations. Here, we introduce the ${\cal PT}$-symmetric states, ${\cal PT}$-covariant operations and ${\cal PT}$-asymmetry measures. For single qubit system, we find duality relations between the ${\cal PT}$-asymmetry measures and the coherence. Moreover, for two-qubit states we prove the duality relations between the ${\cal PT}$-asymmetry measures and entanglement measure such as the concurrence. This gives a resource theoretic interpretation to the concurrence which is lacking till today. Thus, the ${\cal PT}$-asymmetry measure and entanglement can be viewed as two sides of an underlying resource. Finally, the ${\cal PT}$-symmetric dynamics is discussed and some open questions are addressed.

Arno Böhm, Manuel Gadella, M. Mithaiwala

Andrea Di Biagio, Pietro Donà, Carlo Rovelli C

The operational formulations of quantum theory are drastically time oriented. However, to the best of our knowledge, microscopic physics is time-symmetric. We address this tension by showing that the asymmetry of the operational formulations does not reflect a fundamental time-orientation of physics. Instead, it stems from built-in assumptions about the users of the theory. In particular, these formalisms are designed for predicting the future based on information about the past, and the main mathematical objects contain implicit assumption about the past, but not about the future. The main asymmetry in quantum theory is the difference between knowns and unknowns.