Relating the thermodynamic arrow of time to the causal arrow
Relating the thermodynamic arrow of time to the causal arrow
Consider a Hamiltonian system that consists of a slow subsystem S and a fast subsystem F. The autonomous dynamics of S is driven by an effective Hamiltonian, but its thermodynamics is unexpected. We show that a well-defined thermodynamic arrow of time (second law) emerges for S whenever there is a …