No Arabic abstract
We develop the framework of classical Observational entropy, which is a mathematically rigorous and precise framework for non-equilibrium thermodynamics, explicitly defined in terms of a set of observables. Observational entropy can be seen as a generalization of Boltzmann entropy to systems with indeterminate initial conditions, and describes the knowledge achievable about the system by a macroscopic observer with limited measurement capabilities; it becomes Gibbs entropy in the limit of perfectly fine-grained measurements. This quantity, while previously mentioned in the literature, has been investigated in detail only in the quantum case. We describe this framework reasonably pedagogically, then show that in this framework, certain choices of coarse-graining lead to an entropy that is well-defined out of equilibrium, additive on independent systems, and that grows towards thermodynamic entropy as the system reaches equilibrium, even for systems that are genuinely isolated. Choosing certain macroscopic regions, this dynamical thermodynamic entropy measures how close these regions are to thermal equilibrium. We also show that in the given formalism, the correspondence between classical entropy (defined on classical phase space) and quantum entropy (defined on Hilbert space) becomes surprisingly direct and transparent, while manifesting differences stemming from non-commutativity of coarse-grainings and from non-existence of a direct classical analogue of quantum energy eigenstates.
We extend classical coarse-grained entropy, commonly used in many branches of physics, to the quantum realm. We find two coarse-grainings, one using measurements of local particle numbers and then total energy, and the second using local energy measurements, which lead to an entropy that is defined outside of equilibrium, is in accord with the thermodynamic entropy for equilibrium systems, and reaches the thermodynamic entropy in the long-time limit, even in genuinely isolated quantum systems. This answers the long-standing conceptual problem, as to which entropy is relevant for the formulation of the second thermodynamic law in closed quantum systems. This entropy could be in principle measured, especially now that experiments on such systems are becoming feasible.
We investigate the detailed properties of Observational entropy, introduced by v{S}afr{a}nek et al. [Phys. Rev. A 99, 010101 (2019)] as a generalization of Boltzmann entropy to quantum mechanics. This quantity can involve multiple coarse-grainings, even those that do not commute with each other, without losing any of its properties. It is well-defined out of equilibrium, and for some coarse-grainings it generically rises to the correct thermodynamic value even in a genuinely isolated quantum system. The quantity contains several other entropy definitions as special cases, it has interesting information-theoretic interpretations, and mathematical properties -- such as extensivity and upper and lower bounds -- suitable for an entropy. Here we describe and provide proofs for many of its properties, discuss its interpretation and connection to other quantities, and provide numerous simulations and analytic arguments supporting the claims of its relationship to thermodynamic entropy. This quantity may thus provide a clear and well-defined foundation on which to build a satisfactory understanding of the second thermodynamical law in quantum mechanics.
Systems out of equilibrium exhibit a net production of entropy. We study the dynamics of a stochastic system represented by a Master Equation that can be modeled by a Fokker-Planck equation in a coarse-grained, mesoscopic description. We show that the corresponding coarse-grained entropy production contains information on microscopic currents that are not captured by the Fokker-Planck equation and thus cannot be deduced from it. We study a discrete-state and a continuous-state system, deriving in both the cases an analytical expression for the coarse-graining corrections to the entropy production. This result elucidates the limits in which there is no loss of information in passing from a Master Equation to a Fokker-Planck equation describing the same system. Our results are amenable of experimental verification, which could help to infer some information about the underlying microscopic processes.
We formulate a new ``Wigner characteristics based method to calculate entanglement entropies of subsystems of Fermions using Keldysh field theory. This bypasses the requirements of working with complicated manifolds for calculating R{e}nyi entropies for many body systems. We provide an exact analytic formula for R{e}nyi and von-Neumann entanglement entropies of non-interacting open quantum systems, which are initialised in arbitrary Fock states. We use this formalism to look at entanglement entropies of momentum Fock states of one-dimensional Fermions. We show that the entanglement entropy of a Fock state can scale either logarithmically or linearly with subsystem size, depending on whether the number of discontinuities in the momentum distribution is smaller or larger than the subsystem size. This classification of states in terms number of blocks of occupied momenta allows us to analytically estimate the number of critical and non-critical Fock states for a particular subsystem size. We also use this formalism to describe entanglement dynamics of an open quantum system starting with a single domain wall at the center of the system. Using entanglement entropy and mutual information, we understand the dynamics in terms of coherent motion of the domain wall wavefronts, creation and annihilation of domain walls and incoherent exchange of particles with the bath.
We study the effects of dissipative boundaries in many-body systems at continuous quantum transitions, when the parameters of the Hamiltonian driving the unitary dynamics are close to their critical values. As paradigmatic models, we consider fermionic wires subject to dissipative interactions at the boundaries, associated with pumping or loss of particles. They are induced by couplings with a Markovian baths, so that the evolution of the system density matrix can be described by a Lindblad master equation. We study the quantum evolution arising from variations of the Hamiltonian and dissipation parameters, starting at t=0 from the ground state of the critical Hamiltonian. Two different dynamic regimes emerge: (i) an early-time regime for times t ~ L, where the competition between coherent and incoherent drivings develops a dynamic finite-size scaling, obtained by extending the scaling framework describing the coherent critical dynamics of the closed system, to allow for the boundary dissipation; (ii) a large-time regime for t ~ L^3 whose dynamic scaling describes the late quantum evolution leading to the t->infty stationary states.