Emergence of Constructor-based Irreversibility in Quantum Systems: Theory and Experiment

TL;DR

This paper explores how irreversibility can emerge in quantum systems within the constructor theory framework, demonstrating compatibility with time-reversal symmetry through a model and experimental realization using single-photon qubits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to irreversibility in quantum systems using constructor theory and provides experimental evidence with quantum homogeniser models.

Findings

Irreversibility can emerge in quantum systems without violating time-reversal symmetry.

Experimental realization with single-photon qubits supports the theoretical model.

The constructor theory framework effectively describes quantum irreversibility.

Abstract

The issue of irreversibility in a universe with time-reversal-symmetric laws is a central problem in physics. % , and, in particular, to statistical mechanics, information theory and quantum thermodynamics. In this letter, we discuss for the first time how irreversibility can emerge within the recently proposed constructor theory framework. Here irreversibility is expressed as the requirement that a task is possible, while its inverse is not. In particular, we demonstrate that this irreversibility is compatible with quantum theory's time reversal symmetric laws, by exploiting a specific model, based on the universal quantum homogeniser, realised experimentally with high-quality single-photon qubits.