Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics Journal Club
| Date: | October 15, 2007 | |
| Title: | "From time-symmetric microscopic dynamics to time-asymmetric macroscopic behaviour: An Overview" by J.L. Lebowitz | |
| Speaker: | Tridib Sadhu | |
| Abstract: | I will talk about the recent paper by J. L. Lebowitz [arXiv] which discusses the apparent paradox: microscopic dynamics are time-symmetric but the behaviour of macrocospic objects, composed of microscopic constituents, is time-asymmetric. I will discuss how this disparity can be explained by taking into account 1) the difference of microcospic and macrocospic scales 2) a low entropy state of the early universe, and 3) The fact that what we observe is the behaviour of systems coming from such an initial state - not all possible systems. An extension of this theory to the quantum world will also be discussed. |