Bibcode
Esposito, Massimiliano; Lindenberg, Katja; Van den Broeck, Christian
Bibliographical reference
New Journal of Physics, Volume 12, Issue 1, pp. 013013 (2010).
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1
2010
Journal
Citations
316
Refereed citations
288
Description
We derive an exact (classical and quantum) expression for the entropy
production of a finite system placed in contact with one or several
finite reservoirs, each of which is initially described by a canonical
equilibrium distribution. Although the total entropy of system plus
reservoirs is conserved, we show that system entropy production is
always positive and is a direct measure of system-reservoir correlations
and/or entanglements. Using an exactly solvable quantum model, we
illustrate our novel interpretation of the Second Law in a
microscopically reversible finite-size setting, with strong coupling
between the system and the reservoirs. With this model, we also
explicitly show the approach of our exact formulation to the standard
description of irreversibility in the limit of a large reservoir.