Is there a conflict between CPT symmetry and the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

In summary, CPT symmetry suggests that all physical processes are reversible, but this is not always the case due to the size of space.
  • #1
Jarek 31
158
31
Naively there is a conflict between CPT symmetry being at heart of fundamental physics models like QFT, and 2nd law of thermodynamics: saying that entropy grows toward future.
Is there really a conflict here - so is physics symmetric or not? How to understand it?

Personally I disagree with that there is conflict: to "prove" entropy growth e.g. in Boltzmann H-thoerem, we need to make this "stosszahlansatz" assumption, which corresponds to kind of mean-field approximation, allowing to prove entropy growth.
Without this approximation/smoothing, we have e.g. positions of particles with time/CPT symmetric behavior: if "proving" entropy growth, we could perform symmetry first and apply this proof - getting contradiction.

So this tendency for entropy growth seems in fact time symmetric: having low entropy situation (e.g. all particles are in left hand side of a containment), the entropy should grow if evolving toward both future and past.
Low entropy situation in the history of our Universe was our Big Bang - can BB be seen as the reason of entropy growth we are observing?

Yesterday PBS " The Arrow of Time and How to Reverse It":


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  • #2
This is still an open question.
Yes, CPT symmetry suggests that all fundamental processes are reversible. We have no experimental evidence to the contrary.
Yes, all evidence of macroscopic systems, i.e. large configurations of particles undergoing physical processes shows that they are irreversible processes.

The basic theories are based on symmetry (general relativity and QFT) so they don't have any built in entropy. General relativity is time symmetric, as is QFT.

In my view, we see macroscopic events as irreversible because of how much space there is. For example, if you watch a muon decay into an electron and two neutrinos, you will have one particle become 3. In the Feynman diagram, you can just as easily combine the two neutrinos and electron back into the muon. It is reversible. So, why doesn't it ever happen? Space is big compared to the fundamental processes, and the odds of the particles aligning just right to recombine back into the muon are very low. Get rid of the enormity of space, and things will happen reversibly just fine. Technically, what happens is when you calculate the cross section for the interaction of two neutrinos and an electron, it is just way too small to ever happen. However, the decay time for a muon is only a few microseconds, so it'll happen all day!
 

1. Is CPT symmetry compatible with the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

Yes, CPT (charge-parity-time) symmetry is compatible with the 2nd law of thermodynamics. This is because the 2nd law of thermodynamics is a statistical law that describes the direction of heat flow in a closed system, while CPT symmetry is a fundamental symmetry of the laws of physics that states that the laws of physics are the same under the combined operations of charge conjugation, parity transformation, and time reversal.

2. How does CPT symmetry relate to the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

CPT symmetry is a fundamental symmetry of the laws of physics, while the 2nd law of thermodynamics is a statistical law that describes the direction of heat flow in a closed system. CPT symmetry does not directly relate to the 2nd law of thermodynamics, but it is compatible with it.

3. Can CPT symmetry be violated by the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

No, CPT symmetry is a fundamental symmetry of the laws of physics and cannot be violated by the 2nd law of thermodynamics. The 2nd law of thermodynamics is a statistical law that describes the direction of heat flow in a closed system and does not affect the fundamental symmetries of the laws of physics.

4. Are there any experiments that have tested the relationship between CPT symmetry and the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

There have been experiments that have tested the individual components of CPT symmetry, such as charge conjugation and time reversal. However, there is currently no experiment that directly tests the relationship between CPT symmetry and the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

5. How does the concept of entropy relate to CPT symmetry and the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness in a system, and it is related to the 2nd law of thermodynamics as it describes the direction of heat flow in a closed system. CPT symmetry is a fundamental symmetry of the laws of physics and does not directly relate to the concept of entropy. However, the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which is related to entropy, is compatible with CPT symmetry.

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