English

Tightening the thermodynamic uncertainty relations with null-entropy events: What we learn when nothing happens

Statistical Mechanics 2026-03-11 v4 Quantum Physics

Abstract

Fluctuation theorems establish that thermodynamic processes at the microscale can occasionally result in negative entropy production. At the microscale, another distinct possibility becomes more likely: processes in which no entropy is produced overall. In this work, we explore the constraints imposed by such null-entropy events on the fluctuations of thermodynamic currents. By incorporating the probability of null-entropy events, we obtain tighter bounds on finite-time thermodynamic uncertainty relations derived from fluctuation theorems. We validate this framework using an example of a qudit SWAP engine.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.16528,
  title  = {Tightening the thermodynamic uncertainty relations with null-entropy events: What we learn when nothing happens},
  author = {Abhaya S. Hegde and André M. Timpanaro and Gabriel T. Landi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.16528},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

10 pages, 4 figures