The role of quantum coherence in non-equilibrium entropy production

Thermodynamic irreversibility is well characterized by the entropy production arising from non-equilibrium quantum processes. We show that the entropy production of a quantum system undergoing open-system dynamics can be formally split into a term that only depends on population unbalances, and one that is underpinned by quantum coherences. The population unbalances are found to contribute to both an entropy flux and an entropy production rate. The decoherence, on the other hand, contributes only to the entropy production rate. This allows us to identify a genuine quantum contribution to the entropy production in non-equilibrium quantum processes. We make use of such a division to address the open-system dynamics of a spin J particle, which we describe in phase space through a spin-coherent representation.