Abstract
AbstractA challenging problem facing physicists is the compatibility of irreversibility, as expressed by the second law of thermodynamics, with ordinary quantum mechanics. We present a solution through an extension of the latter. The presence of self‐energy processes (already found in quantum electrodynamics) is fully exploited to get an extension of a reversible formalism. They enable the widening of the dynamics by the introduction of specific auxiliary variables, leading to the recognition of such processes. A projection technique modeled on the one introduced long ago by the Brussels group defines a subdynamics that is shown to contain entirely the starting formulation (it corresponds to a restricted class of initial conditions, namely, the reversible one). A new kinetic description is obtained in which, for example, collision processes for privileged components arise from the original interaction. A very simple model and its generalizations are considered. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004
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