Temperature in Quantum Systems: Meaning & Impact

  • Thread starter Thread starter Quantum River
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Qm Temperature
Quantum River
Messages
46
Reaction score
0
What is the meaning of temperature in a quantum system? Surely temperature concerns lots of particles. (More is different. -Philip W. Anderson) So the wave function of the system is very very big. Could temperature only exist in a mixed state system. But how do we define temperature? How does temperature influence the evolution of the system? The Schrodinger equation alone controls the evolution of the system already.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Quantum River said:
What is the meaning of temperature in a quantum system? Surely temperature concerns lots of particles. (More is different. -Philip W. Anderson) So the wave function of the system is very very big. Could temperature only exist in a mixed state system. But how do we define temperature? How does temperature influence the evolution of the system? The Schrodinger equation alone controls the evolution of the system already.

The formalism of QM doesn't account for a description of the physical quantity called "temperature". However, we can describe quantum mechanically a statistical system for which we know to define the temperature.
 
Quantum River said:
What is the meaning of temperature in a quantum system? Surely temperature concerns lots of particles. (More is different. -Philip W. Anderson) So the wave function of the system is very very big. Could temperature only exist in a mixed state system. But how do we define temperature? How does temperature influence the evolution of the system? The Schrodinger equation alone controls the evolution of the system already.

Visit also "Energy Vs Information" session
 

Thread 'Quantum Entanglement is a Kinematic Fact, not a Dynamical Effect'

Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
View full post »

Thread 'Quantum behaviour of an electron around a positively charged sphere'

If we release an electron around a positively charged sphere, the initial state of electron is a linear combination of Hydrogen-like states. According to quantum mechanics, evolution of time would not change this initial state because the potential is time independent. However, classically we expect the electron to collide with the sphere. So, it seems that the quantum and classics predict different behaviours!
View full post »

Similar threads

I Temperature in quantum systems
Replies
8
Views
1K
B Description of isolated macroscopic systems in quantum mechanics
Replies
48
Views
3K
A Can particles appear and disappear "with" a cause?
Replies
1
Views
2K
B Time-reversal of an unknown quantum state
Replies
1
Views
1K
B Extremely elementary questions about QM
Replies
24
Views
2K
I Will quantum computation lower energy requirements?
Replies
4
Views
7K
I What is the Meaning of the Schrödinger Equation?
Replies
11
Views
2K
Quantum Entangled Living Bacteria
Replies
14
Views
3K
What is the true meaning of temperature? Is it global or local?
Replies
10
Views
2K
Electron in 1D Box: classical or quantum at different temps
Replies
1
Views
1K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top