In Resonances, Instability, and Irreversibility: The Liouville Space Extension of Quantum Mechanics

T. Petrosky and I. Prigogine

Unstable Systems in Generalized Quantum Theory

E. C. G. Sudarshan, Charles B. Chiu, and G. Bhamathi

Resonances and Dilatation Analyticity in Liouville Space

Erkki J. Brändas

Time, Irreversibility, and Unstable Systems in Quantum Physics

E. Eisenberg and L. P. Horwitz

Quantum Systems with Diagonal Singularity

I. Antoniou and Z. Suchanecki

Nonadiabatic Crossing of Decaying Levels

V. V. and Vl. V. Kocharovsky and S. Tasaki

Can We Observe Microscopic Chaos in the Laboratory?

Pierre Gaspard

Proton Nonlocality and Decoherence in Condensed Matter -- Predictions and Experimental Results

C. A. Chatzidimitriou-Dreismann

"We are at a most interesting moment in the history of science. Classical science emphasized equilibrium, stability, and time reversibility. Now we see instabilities, fluctuations, evolution on all levels of observations. This change of perspective requires new tools, new concepts. This volume invites the reader not to an enumeration of final achievements of contemporary science, but to an excursion to science in the making." --from the Foreword by I. Prigogine

What are the dynamical roots of irreversibility? How can past and future be distinguished on the fundamental level of description? Are human beings the children of time --or its progenitors? In recent years, a growing number of chemists and physicists have agreed that the solution to the problem of irreversibility requires an extension of classical and quantum mechanics. There is, however, no consensus on which direction this extension should take to include the dynamical description of irreversible processes.

Resonances, Instability, and Irreversibility surveys recent attempts --both direct and indirect --to address the problem of irreversibility. Internationally recognized researchers report on their recent studies, which run the gamut from experimental to highly mathematical. The subject matter of these papers falls into three categories: classical systems with emphasis on chaos and dynamical instability, resonances and unstable quantum systems, and the general problem of irreversibility.

Presenting the cutting edge of research into some of the most compelling questions that face contemporary chemical physics, Resonances, Instability, and Irreversibility is fascinating reading for professionals and students in every area of the discipline.

About the editors

I. PRIGOGINE is Director of the International Solvay Institutes,Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. One of the foremost figuresin his field, Professor Prigogine is the Ashbel Smith Professor ofPhysics at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is alsoDirector of the Ilya Prigogine Center for Studies in StatisticalMechanics and Complex Systems. He is the holder of 40 honorarydegrees, and many scientific prizes, special chairs, and visitingprofessorships. In 1977 he was awarded the Nobel Prize inchemistry. Professor Prigogine is a member of many nationalacademies, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, theNational Academy of Sciences, and the Russian National Academy ofSciences. In 1989 he was given the title of viscount by the King ofBelgium.

STUART A. RICE is the Frank P. Hixon Distinguished ServiceProfessor at the James Franck Institute and the Department ofChemistry of the University of Chicago. A former dean of theuniversity's Division of Physical Sciences, Professor Rice is aworld-renowned authority on chemical physics and has receivedscores of awards and honors. A former Alfred P. Sloan Fellow andGuggenheim Fellow, Professor Rice is also a Fellow of the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, andthe American Philosophical Society.

The Lionville Space Extension of Quantum Mechanics;
Unstable Systems in Generalized Quantum Theory;
Resonances and Dilation Analyticity in Lionville Space;
Time, Irreversibility and Unstable Systems in Quantum Physics;
Quantum Systems with Diagonal Singularity;
Non-Adiabatic Crossing of Decaying Levels;
Can We Observe Microscopic Chaos in the Laboratory?;
Proton Non-Locality and Decoherence in Condensed Matter-Predictions and Experimental Results.