Abstract:

Entropy is the distinguishing and most important concept of our efforts to understand and regularize our observations of a very large class of natural phenomena, and yet, it is one of the most contentious concepts of physics. In this article, we review two expositions of thermodynamics, one without reference to quantum theory, and the other quantum mechanical without probabilities of statistical mechanics. In the first, we show that entropy is an inherent property of any system in any state, and that its analytical expression must conform to eight criteria. In the second, we recognize that quantum thermodynamics: (i) admits quantum probabilities described either by wave functions or by nonstatistical density operators; and (ii) requires a nonlinear equation of motion that is delimited by but more general than the Schrödinger equation, and that accounts for both reversible and irreversible evolutions of the state of the system in time. Both the more general quantum probabilities, and the equation of motion have been defined, and the three laws of thermodynamics are shown to be theorems of this equation. An initial version of this paper was published in July of 2006 in the proceedings of ECOS’06, Aghia Pelagia, Crete, Greece. 

Keywords: