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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 6: Quantum Dynamics, Decoherence, and Quantum Information I
DY 6.7: Talk
Monday, March 14, 2011, 15:45–16:00, ZEU 255
Under what conditions do quantum systems thermalize? New insights from quantum information theory — •Christian Gogolin1,2,3, Markus P. Müller1,4, and Jens Eisert1,5 — 1Institute for Physics and Astronomy, Potsdam University, 14476 Potsdam, Germany — 2Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie, Universitä Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany — 3Department of Mathematics, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TW, UK — 4Institute of Mathematics, Technical University of Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany — 5Institute for Advanced Study Berlin, 14193 Berlin, Germany
Quantum mechanics is generally regarded as a fundamental theory of physics. As such, it should be able to provide us with a microscopic explanation of all phenomena we observe in macroscopic systems, including irreversible processes such as thermalization. With new mathematical tools from quantum information theory becoming available, there has been a renewed effort to settle the old question of the emergence of classicality and irreversibly. The talk gives an overview over recent progress in the field. In particular it is shown how equilibration and a maximum entropy Jaynes'-principle emerge as a natural consequence of unitary time evolution without any (Markov) approximation, and under which conditions the equilibrium state of a small subsystem is diagonal in the local energy eigenbasis as well as when, and when not, equilibration towards a thermal Boltzmann state can happen.