On Order, Disorder and Coherence

Abstract

We provide a brief survey of quantum statistical characterisations of order, disorder and coherence in systems of many degrees of freedom. Here, order and coherence are described in terms of symmetry breakdown, while disorder is described in terms of entropy and algorithmic complexity, whose interconnection has been recently extended from the classical to the quantum domain. We see that, in the present physical context, the concepts of order and disorder are not mutually antithetical, but bear an interrelationship similar to that between signals and noise.