English

Quantum stochastic thermodynamics: A semiclassical theory in phase space

Statistical Mechanics 2024-12-23 v6 Quantum Physics

Abstract

A formalism for quantum many-body systems is proposed through a semiclassical treatment in phase space, allowing us to establish a stochastic thermodynamics incorporating quantum statistics. Specifically, we utilize a stochastic Fokker-Planck equation as the dynamics at the mesoscopic level. Here, the noise term characterizing the fluctuation of the flux density accounts for the finite-NN effects of random collisions between the system and the reservoir. Accordingly, the stationary solution is a quasi-equilibrium state in a canonical system. We define stochastic thermodynamic quantities based on the trajectories of the phase-space distribution. The conservation law of energy, HH theorem and fluctuation theorems are therefore obtained. Our work sets an alternative formalism of quantum stochastic thermodynamics that is independent of the two-point measurement scheme. The numerous projective measurements of quantum systems are replaced by the sampling of the phase-space distribution, offering hope for experimental verifications in the future.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2303.05935,
  title  = {Quantum stochastic thermodynamics: A semiclassical theory in phase space},
  author = {Zhaoyu Fei},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.05935},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T09:11:11.275Z