Classical analogue of the statistical operator

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Authors

Plastino, Angelo
Plastino, Angel Ricardo (Angelo)
Zander, Claudia

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Publisher

Springer

Abstract

We advance the notion of a classical density matrix, as a classical analogue of the quantum mechanical statistical operator, and investigate its main properties. In the case of composite systems a partial trace-like operation performed upon the global classical density matrix leads to a marginal density matrix describing a subsystem. In the case of dynamically independent subsystems (that is, non-interacting subsystems) this marginal density matrix evolves locally, its behavior being completely determined by the local phase-space flow associated with the subsystem under consideration. However, and in contrast with the case of ordinary marginal probability densities, the marginal classical density matrix contains information concerning the statistical correlations between a subsystem and the rest of the system.

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Keywords

Statistical operator, Liouville dynamics, Physics of information

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Citation

Plastino, A, Plastino, AR & Zander, C 2014, 'Classical analogue of the statistical operator', Central European Journal of Physics, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 168–174.