Classical theory of collisional entropy production

A classical dynamical theory of elementary collision processes is formulated in analogy to the quantum theory of the dynamical scattering matrix, which can be defined for a pure quantum stationary scattering state. The elements of this matrix are probability amplitudes for transitions between internal states defined for given values of a reaction coordinate. The squared magnitudes of these amplitudes, modeled in the proposed classical theory, define normalized internal state population distributions suitable for information theoretical analysis. Statistical entropy and surprisal are defined as dynamical functions of a reaction coordinate. This formalism differs fundamentally from concepts based on the classical Liouville equation. (Auth.)