Shenker, Orly R. and Hemmo, Meir (2006) Von Neumann's Entropy Does Not Correspond to Thermodynamic Entropy. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Abstract Von Neumann (1932, Ch. 5) argued by means of a thought experiment involving measurements of spin observables that the quantum mechanical quantity is conceptually equivalent to thermodynamic entropy. We analyze Von Neumann's thought experiment and show that his argument fails. Over the past few years there has been a dispute in the literature regarding the Von Neumann entropy. It turns out that each contribution to this dispute (Shenker 1999, Henderson 2001, Hemmo 2003) addressed a different special case. In this paper we generalize the discussion and examine the full matrix of possibilities that are relevant for the evaluation and understanding of Von Neumann’s argument.

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Item Type:	Other
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Shenker, Orly R. Hemmo, Meir
Keywords:	entropy, Von Neumann entropy, information entropy, Second Law of thermodynamics, though experiment, measurement
Subjects:	General Issues > Thought Experiments General Issues > Philosophers of Science Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism General Issues > Operationalism/Instrumentalism Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Orly Shenker
Date Deposited:	11 Dec 2007
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2016 17:31
Item ID:	3716
Subjects:	General Issues > Thought Experiments General Issues > Philosophers of Science Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism General Issues > Operationalism/Instrumentalism Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics General Issues > Reductionism/Holism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	2006
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/3716

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• The Von Neumann Entropy: A Reconsideration. (deposited 25 Nov 2005)

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