Decoherence, Chaos, and the Second Law

Abstract

We investigate implications of decoherence for quantum systems which are classically chaotic. We show that, in open systems, the rate of von Neumann entropy production quickly reaches an asymptotic value which is: (i) independent of the system-environment coupling, (ii) dictated by the dynamics of the system, and (iii) dominated by the largest Lyapunov exponent. These results shed a new light on the correspondence between quantum and classical dynamics as well as on the origins of the ``arrow of time.''