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Boltzmann-Loschmidt dispute reloaded quantum 150 years later
Leonardo Ermann, Alexei D. Chepelianskii, Dima L. Shepelyansky·April 6, 2026
cond-mat.stat-mechcond-mat.quant-gasnlin.CDQuantum Physics
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Abstract
The Boltzmann-Loschmidt dispute of 1876 questioned the possibility of a statistical irreversible description by time reversible classical equations of motion of atoms. Here we show analytically and numerically that the quantum chaos diffusion of cold atoms, or ions, in a harmonic trap and pulsed optical lattice can be inverted back in time with up to 100\% efficiency. This is in sharp contrast to classical evolution where exponentially small errors break time reversibility. We argue that the existing experimental skills allow highlighting the Boltzmann-Loschmidt dispute from a quantum perspective.