Related papers: Comments on Extraction of Work from a Single Therm…
The equivalence postulate approach to quantum mechanics entails a derivation of quantum mechanics from a fundamental geometrical principle. Underlying the formalism there exists a basic cocycle condition, which is invariant under…
The interaction of a quantum system with its environment causes decoherence, setting a fundamental limit on the suitability of a system for quantum information processing. However, we show that if the quantum system consists of coupled…
We revisit quantum Maxwell demon in thermodynamic feedback cycle in the steady-state regime. We derive a generalized version of the Clausius inequality for a finite-time steady feedback cycle with a single heat bath. It is shown to be…
We study entropy production in nanoscale devices, which are coupled to finite heat baths. This situation is of growing experimental relevance, but most theoretical approaches rely on a formulation of the second law valid only for infinite…
The quantum ergotropy quantifies the maximal amount of work that can be extracted from a quantum state without changing its entropy. Given that the ergotropy can be expressed as the difference of quantum and classical relative entropies of…
The thermal properties of ice, liquid water and steam are at odds with statistical theories applied to many-body systems. Here, these properties are quantitatively explained with a bulk-scale matter field emerging from the indefinite status…
A quantum analogue of the Jarzynski equality is constructed. This equality connects an ensemble average of exponentiated work with the Helmholtz free-energy difference in a nonequilibrium switching process subject to a thermal heat bath. To…
We propose a scheme for a quantum thermal machine made by atoms interacting with a single non-equilibrium electromagnetic field. The field is produced by a simple configuration of macroscopic objects held at thermal equilibrium at different…
Fluctuation theorems impose constraints on possible work extraction probabilities in thermodynamical processes. These constraints are stronger than the usual second law, which is concerned only with average values. Here, we show that such…
We present an analysis of the foundations of the well known Clausius inequality. It is shown that, strictly speaking, the inequality is not a logical consequence of the Kelvin-Planck formulation of the second law of thermodynamics. Some…
The performance enhancements observed in various models of continuous quantum thermal machines have been linked to the buildup of coherences in a preferred basis. But, is this connection always an evidence of `quantum-thermodynamic…
Free energy fixes the maximum work of a thermodynamic process once the state and Hamiltonian are specified. A work-extraction task asks a different question: how much average work can a single device realize across several preparations and…
We discuss the thermodynamics of closed quantum systems driven out of equilibrium by a change in a control parameter and undergoing a unitary process. We compare the work actually done on the system with the one that would be performed…
A known aspect of the Clausius inequality is that an equilibrium system subjected to a squeezing $\d S$ of its entropy must release at least an amount $|\dbarrm Q|=T|\d S|$ of heat. This serves as a basis for the Landauer principle, which…
The presence of correlations in the input state of a non-interacting many-body quantum system can lead to an increase in the amount of work we can extract from it under global unitary processes (ergotropy). The present work explore such…
In quantum systems which satisfy the hypothesis of equal weights for eigenstates [4], the maximum work principle (for extremely slow and relatively fast operation) is derived by using quantum dynamics alone. This may be a crucial step in…
The impossibility of separating into work and heat the energy transmitted between two subsystems through a movable piston is analyzed in this article. The process here described, although "quasi-static", is not reversible. It is shown that…
It is shown how classical states, meant as states representing a classical object, can be produced in the thermodynamic limit, retaining the unitary evolution of quantum mechanics. Besides, using a simple model of a single spin interacting…
We study the performance of quantum thermal machines in which the working fluid of the model is represented by a many-body quantum system that is periodically connected with external baths via local couplings. A formal characterization of…
We present in detail a Langevin formalism for constructing stochastic dynamical equations for active-matter systems coupled to a thermal bath. We apply the formalism to clarify issues of principle regarding the sources and signatures of…