Thermodynamics of Quantum Measurement

The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy increases (or does not change) by time in an isolated system. As microscopic physical laws are reversible, the origin of irreversibility is not straightforward. Although the outcome of a measurement on a pure quantum state is not fully predictable due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, quantum and finite entropy uncertainties are thought to be fundamentally different. We propose to calculate the predictability of meas...

We review with a tutorial scope the information theory foundations of quantum statistical physics. Only a small proportion of the variables that characterize a system at the microscopic scale can be controlled, for both practical and theoretical reasons, and a probabilistic description involving the observers is required. The criterion of maximum von Neumann entropy is then used for making reasonable inferences. It means that no spurious information is introduced besides the ...

We take the view that the standard von Neumann definition, in which the entropy $S^{vN}$ of a pure state is zero, is in evident conflict with the statement of the second law that the entropy of the universe $S_{univ}$ increases in spontaneous processes, $ \Delta S_{univ} > 0$. Here we seek an alternative entropy of the universe $S_{univ}$ that is in accord with the second law, in a spirit not dissimilar to von Neumann himself in lesser-known work. We perform simulations of ti...

Quantum physics, despite its observables being intrinsically of a probabilistic nature, does not have a quantum entropy assigned to them. We propose a quantum entropy that quantify the randomness of a pure quantum state via a conjugate pair of observables forming the quantum phase space. The entropy is dimensionless, it is a relativistic scalar, it is invariant under coordinate transformation of position and momentum that maintain conjugate properties, and under CPT transform...

Similarity between quantum mechanics and thermodynamics is discussed. It is found that if the Clausius equality is imposed on the Shannon entropy and the analogue of the heat quantity, then the value of the Shannon entropy comes to formally coincide with that of the von Neumann entropy of the canonical density matrix, and pure-state quantum mechanics apparently transmutes into quantum thermodynamics. The corresponding quantum Carnot cycle of a simple two-state model of a part...

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 isolate...

This paper is a non-technical, informal presentation of our theory of the second law of thermodynamics as a law that is independent of statistical mechanics and that is derivable solely from certain simple assumptions about adiabatic processes for macroscopic systems. It is not necessary to assume a-priori concepts such as "heat", "hot and cold", "temperature". These are derivable from entropy, whose existence we derive from the basic assumptions. See cond-mat/9708200 and mat...

Conventional wisdom holds that the von Neumann entropy corresponds to thermodynamic entropy, but Hemmo and Shenker (2006) have recently argued against this view by attacking von Neumann (1955) and his argument. I argue that Hemmo and Shenker's arguments fail due to several misunderstandings: about statistical-mechanical and thermodynamic domains of applicability, about the nature of mixed states, and about the role of approximations in physics. As a result, their arguments fa...

Thermodynamics and information have intricate interrelations. Often thermodynamics is considered to be the logical premise to justify that information is physical - through Landauer's principle -, thereby also linking information and thermodynamics. This approach towards information has been instrumental to understand thermodynamics of logical and physical processes, both in the classical and quantum domain. In the present work, we formulate thermodynamics as an exclusive con...

The Kullback-Leibler inequality is a way of comparing any two density matrices. A technique to set up the density matrix for a physical system is to use the maximum entropy principle, given the entropy as a functional of the density matrix, subject to known constraints. In conjunction with the master equation for the density matrix, these two ingredients allow us to formulate the second law of thermodynamics in its widest possible setting. Thus problems arising in both quantu...