Extremely quick thermalization in a macroscopic quantum system for a typical nonequilibrium subspace. (English) Zbl 1452.82011
Summary: The fact that macroscopic systems approach thermal equilibrium may seem puzzling, for example, because it may seem to conflict with the time-reversibility of the microscopic dynamics. We here prove that in a macroscopic quantum system for a typical choice of ‘nonequilibrium subspace’, any initial state indeed thermalizes, and in fact does so very quickly, on the order of the Boltzmann time \(\tau_{\mathrm B}:=h/(k_{\mathrm B}T)\). Therefore what needs to be explained is, not that macroscopic systems approach thermal equilibrium, but that they do so slowly.
MSC:
| 82C10 | Quantum dynamics and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics (general) |
References:
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