Author(s)

Jian-Ping Peng

Department of Physics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

The time-dependent entropy of a single free quantum particle in the non-relativistic regime is studied in detail for the process started from a fully coherent quantum state to thermodynamic equilibrium with its surroundings at a finite temperature. It is shown that the entropy at the end of the process converges to a universal constant, as a result of thermal interaction.

Entropy Generation; Quantum Thermodynamic Systems

J. Peng, "Entropy of a Free Quantum Particle," Journal of Modern Physics, Vol. 3 No. 12, 2012, pp. 1914-1917. doi: 10.4236/jmp.2012.312241.