Emergent quantum mechanics as a classical, irreversible thermodynamics

We present an explicit correspondence between quantum mechanics and the classical theory of irreversible thermodynamics as developed by Onsager, Prigogine et al. Our correspondence maps irreversible Gaussian Markov processes into the semiclassical approximation of quantum mechanics. Quantum-mechanic...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Acosta Iglesias, Dagoberto, González-Santander Martínez, Juan Luis, Fernández de Córdoba, Pedro|||0000-0002-0347-7280, Isidro, J.M.|||0000-0002-0720-9945
Tipo de documento: artigo
Data de publicação:2013
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositório:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglês
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/38689
Acesso em linha:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/38689
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Quantum theory
Irreversibility
MATEMATICA APLICADA
Descrição
Resumo:We present an explicit correspondence between quantum mechanics and the classical theory of irreversible thermodynamics as developed by Onsager, Prigogine et al. Our correspondence maps irreversible Gaussian Markov processes into the semiclassical approximation of quantum mechanics. Quantum-mechanical propagators are mapped into thermodynamical probability distributions. The Feynman path integral also arises naturally in this setup. The fact that quantum mechanics can be translated into thermodynamical language provides additional support for the conjecture that quantum mechanics is not a fundamental theory but rather an emergent phenomenon, i.e. an effective description of some underlying degrees of freedom.