2009/06/30 by R. J. Fries, Rainer J. Fries, Teiji Kunihiro +6 · 2 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Collision #Configuration entropy #Entropy (arrow of time) #Entropy production #Heavy ion #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Ion #Physics #Quantum #Quantum decoherence #Quantum mechanics #Statistical Distribution Estimation and Applications #Statistical Mechanics and Entropy #Statistical physics #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2009.09.041
published as Nucl.Phys.A830:519c-522c,2009 · 4 pages, 1 figure1 - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennessee
arxiv created 2009/09/12 · openalex publication_date 2009/11/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We review what is known about the contributions to the final entropy from the different stages of a relativistic nuclear collision, including recent results on the decoherence entropy and the entropy produced during the hydrodynamic phase by viscous effects. We then present a general framework, based on the Husimi distribution function, for the calculation of entropy growth in quantum field theories, which is applicable to the earliest ("glasma") phase of the collision during which most of the entropy is generated. The entropy calculated from the Husimi distribution exhibits linear growth when the quantum field contains unstable modes and is asymptotically equal to the Kolmogorov-Sinaï (KS) entropy. We outline how the approach can be used to investigate the problem of entropy production in a relativistic heavy-ion reaction from first principles.