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arxiv: 1402.0324 · v1 · pith:PQGX3CIZnew · submitted 2014-02-03 · ❄️ cond-mat.stat-mech · math-ph· math.MP· quant-ph

Extremely quick thermalization in a macroscopic quantum system for a typical nonequilibrium subspace

classification ❄️ cond-mat.stat-mech math-phmath.MPquant-ph
keywords macroscopicapproachequilibriumfactmathrmnonequilibriumquantumseem
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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 equilibrium, but that they do so slowly.

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