Note on the Quantum Theory of Irreversible Processes

Abstract

Perturbation treatments of irreversible processes are shown to rest on the assumption that the rate of dissipation of disturbances in a system exceeds their rate of input from an external source. This hypothesis is implicit in the concept of a dissipative system and is formulated mathematically in terms of the relaxation time of quantum-mechanical correlation functions or in terms of equivalent properties of the matrices that represent interaction operators in the energy scheme.