Work as an external quantum observable and an operational quantum work fluctuation theorem
Quantum Physics
2020-10-07 v2
Abstract
We propose a definition of externally measurable quantum work in driven systems. Work is given as a quantum observable on a control device which is forcing the system and can be determined without knowledge of the system Hamiltonian . We argue that quantum work fluctuation theorems which rely on the knowledge of are of little practical relevance, contrary to their classical counterparts. Using our framework, we derive a fluctuation theorem which is operationally accessible and could in principle be implemented in experiments to determine bounds on free energy differences of unknown systems.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2003.06437,
title = {Work as an external quantum observable and an operational quantum work fluctuation theorem},
author = {Konstantin Beyer and Kimmo Luoma and Walter T. Strunz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.06437},
year = {2020}
}