scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1389999

Lattice dynamics; integrable lattice equations (37K60) Classical dynamic and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics (general) (82C05) Quantum dynamics and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics (general) (82C10)

Review text

This work is devoted to the study of the time symmetry breaking problem. Although it is customary to consider the basic laws of nature as deterministic and time reversible, we are surrounded by irreversible processes, in which past and future play different roles and time symmetry is broken. This is, precisely, the content of the second law of thermodynamics. That is, we witness the coexistence of both reversible time symmetric processes as well as irreversible processes. The primary objective of this paper is to understand the origin of this difference. This article is the result of decades of work. In the light of the work of the authors on non-equilibrium physics, the problem of irreversibility is reconsidered. Their plan is to reformulate the microscopic laws of physics to include probability and time symmetry breaking for well defined classes of systems. The basic idea is to extend the formulation of the laws of dynamics so as to include irreversibility on the fundamental level. This paper does not contain a detailed description of the results, rather it is a rapid overlook of some important aspects. No proofs are included. A brief summary of the main results of the paper follows. First of all, in section II, the authors show the relation between the ``individual formulation in terms of point transformation and the statistical formulation. In section III, classical mixing dynamical systems (as the baker map) are considered. Some developments on the connection between the usual time reversible dynamical description and the Markoff chain probabilistic description through a (non unitary) change of representation without any loss of information are given. Next, the authors move on to study how the results obtained for chaotic maps give the hope to unify thermodynamics and dynamics. In section IV thermodynamic systems and the thermodynamic limit for harmonic and, especially, anharmonic lattices are examined. Finally, section V is devoted to consider briefly the spectral representation of the Liouville-von Neumann operator in the thermodynamic limit. To sum up, the main result of this work is the formulation of microscopic laws of nature, which are expressed in terms of probabilities (and not trajectories or wave functions, as in the cases of Newtonian and quantum mechanics, respectively) and which lead to time symmetry breaking. This unifies classical dynamics and thermodynamics. It gives also a unified formulation to quantum theory, in which the usual description in terms of the Schrödinger equation supplemented by the ``collapse of the wave function is not needed. Thus, the laws of nature are formulated in such a way that they capture time irreversibility by giving a new status to probability. In that respect, the authors claim that ``Probability is no more the expression of a state of mind but reflects a property of nature which makes possible the emergence of novelty. It is not a failure of reason but the beginning of a new rationality in which reason is no more identified to certitude and probability to ignorance. This paper is written from the point of view of a physicist, it is addressed to physicists, and it is extremely stimulating for researchers interested in the fundamental laws of nature. Mathematicians interested in the mathematical techniques involved in the proofs of the different results might want to read the main references given at the end of the article. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0927.00013].

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