Berlin 2001 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik

Q 7: Quantum Information II

Q 7.6: Talk

Monday, April 2, 2001, 18:45–19:00, Audimax

Entanglement as a basis of the Second Law — •Jochen Gemmer, Alexander Otte, and Günter Mahler — Universität Stuttgart, Inst. f. theoretische Physik I, Pfaffenwaldring 57/IV, 70550 Stuttgart

Within classical mechanics Liouville’s law seems to be in conflict with the second law of thermodynamics. Also in quantummechanics entropy is strictly conserved, if the dynamics of the considered system are only controlled by effective (classical) potentials. Here, however, it is possible to have an increase of local entropy in one subsystem if it entangles with another subsytem. This will also apply to a bi-partite system like a gas in a container, for which the latter is usually modelled by an effective potential only. It is shown that local entropy will increase even if no energy is exchanged between the subsystems (microcanonical conditions) and reach a maximum for almost any state a typical thermodynamical system can possibly evolve into under such conditions. In this sense the second law may be said to be based on quantum mechanics.