The Entropy Rate of Thermal Diffusion

2001/06/26 by John L. Haller Jr, Haller, John L.
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Mathematics #FOS: Physical sciences #Mathematical Physics (math-ph) #Probability (math.PR) #math-ph #math.MP #math.PR

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.math/0106215

Six pages with equations and a figure

arxiv created 2013/09/19 · arxiv updated 2013/09/20

Abstract

The thermal diffusion of a free particle is a random process and generates entropy at a rate equal to twice the particle temperature in natural units of information per second. The rate is calculated using a Gaussian process with a variance as a combination of quantum and classical diffusion. The solution to the diffusion of a free particle is derived from the equation for kinetic energy and its associated imaginary diffusion constant and a real diffusion constant representing classical diffusion. We find the entropy of the initial state is one natural unit, which is the same amount of entropy the process generates after the de-coherence time, hbar over twice the temperature.

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