title: Decoherence and the rate of entropy production in chaotic quantum systems
abstract: We show that for an open quantum system which is classically chaotic (a quartic double well with harmonic driving coupled to a sea of harmonic oscillators) the rate of entropy production has, as a function of time, two relevant regimes: For short times it is proportional to the diffusion coefficient (fixed by the system-environment coupling strength). For longer times (but before equilibration) there is a regime where the entropy production rate is fixed by the Lyapunov exponent. The nature of the transition time between both regimes is investigated.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisica "J.J. Giambiagi," FCEN, UBA, Pabellon 1, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Monteoliva
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Paz