Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics
@article{Jaynes1957InformationTA,
title={Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics},
author={Edwin T. Jaynes},
journal={Physical Review},
year={1957},
volume={106},
pages={620-630}
}Treatment of the predictive aspect of statistical mechanics as a form of statistical inference is extended to the density-matrix formalism and applied to a discussion of the relation between irreversibility and information loss. A principle of "statistical complementarity" is pointed out, according to which the empirically verifiable probabilities of statistical mechanics necessarily correspond to incomplete predictions. A preliminary discussion is given of the second law of thermodynamics and…
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