TITLE:
Entropy Rate of Thermal Diffusion
AUTHORS:
John L. Haller Jr.
KEYWORDS:
Entropy Rate; Entropy; Information; Diffusion; Temperature
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Modern Physics,
Vol.4 No.10,
October
31,
2013
ABSTRACT: The thermal diffusion of a free particle is a random process and generates entropy at a rate equal to twice the particle’s temperature, (in natural units of information per second). The rate is calculated using a Gaussian process with a variance of which is a combination of quantum and classical diffusion. The solution to the quantum diffusion of a free particle is derived from the equation for kinetic energy and its associated imaginary diffusion constant; a real diffusion constant (representing classical diffusion) is shown to be . We find the entropy of the initial state is one natural unit, which is the same amount of entropy the process generates after the de-coherence time, .