Loss of physical reversibility in reversible systems

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2020

Abstract

A dynamical system is said to be reversible if, given an output, the input can always be recovered in a well-posed manner. Nevertheless, we argue that reversible systems that have a time-reversal symmetry, such as the Nonlinear Schrödinger equation and the ϕ4 equation can become ”physically irreversible”. By this, we mean that realistically-small experimental errors in measuring the output can lead to dramatic differences between the recovered input and the original one. The loss of reversibility reveals a natural ”arrow of time”, reminiscent of the thermodynamic one, which is the direction in which the radiation is emitted outward. Our results are relevant to imaging and reversal applications in nonlinear optics.

Identifier

85083493424 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Physica D Nonlinear Phenomena

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physd.2020.132515

ISSN

01672789

Volume

410

Grant

177/13

Fund Ref

Israel Science Foundation

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