On a suggested link between irreversibility and causality

Abstract

It has been a long time issue in statistical physics how to combine reversible microscopic equations with irreversible macroscopic behavior. Recently, Evans and Searles have suggested causality as the key concept for a solution to the irreversibility problem [D. J. Evans and D. J. Searles, Adv. Phys. 51, 1529 (2002) and Phys. Rev. E 53, 5808 (1996)]. This proposal is examined from a philosophical, i.e. conceptual, perspective, which reveals that the point of view taken by Evans and Searles is identical with the one already suggested by Boltzmann. According to Boltzmann initial conditions are responsible for the observed irreversibility of the macroscopic world. It is shown that reversibility requires a concept of causality, where causes and effects are interchangeable - at least on probabilistic grounds. Causality as interpreted by Evans and Searles is not compatible with microscopic reversibility and should itself be derived in order to solve the irreversibility problem.