Propagation of Molecular Chaos by Quantum Systems and the Dynamics of the Curie-Weiss Model

Abstract

The propagation of molecular chaos, a tool of classical kinetic theory, is generalized to apply to quantum systems of distinguishable particles. We prove that the Curie-Weiss model of ferromagnetism propagates molecular chaos and derive the effective dynamics of a single-spin state in the mean-field limit. Our treatment differs from the traditional approach to mean-field spin models in that it concerns the dynamics of single-particle states instead of the dynamics of infinite-particle states.