Related papers: Local Temperatures and Heat Flow in Quantum Driven…
The development of a self-consistent thermodynamic theory of quantum systems is of fundamental importance for modern physics. Still, despite its essential role in quantum science and technology, there is no unifying formalism for…
This review presents a thermodynamic perspective on quantum coupled transport processes in nanoscale systems. Our analysis is formulated within the framework of entropy production rate, the central quantity governing non-equilibrium…
The amount of heat an integer quantum Hall edge state can carry in equilibrium is quantized in universal units of the heat flux quantum $J_q= \frac{\pi k_B^2}{12 \hbar}T^2$ per edge state. We adress the question of how heat transport in…
We introduce a type of quantum dissipation -- local quantum friction -- by adding to the Hamiltonian a local potential that breaks time-reversal invariance so as to cool the system. Unlike the Kossakowski-Lindblad master equation, local…
The thermodynamics of quantum systems coupled to periodically modulated heat baths and work reservoirs is developed. By identifying affinities and fluxes, the first and second law are formulated consistently. In the linear response regime,…
Why do quantum evolutions occur and why do they stop at certain points? In classical thermodynamics affinity was introduced to predict in which direction an irreversible process proceeds. In this paper the quantum mechanical counterpart of…
We apply advanced methods of control theory to open quantum systems and we determine finite-time processes which are optimal with respect to thermodynamic performances. General properties and necessary conditions characterizing optimal…
While thermodynamics is a useful tool to describe the driving of large systems close to equilibrium, fluctuations dominate the distribution of heat and work in small systems and far from equilibrium. We study the heat generated by driving a…
Temperature is usually defined for physical systems at thermal equilibrium. Nevertheless one may wonder if it would be possible to attribute a meaningful notion of temperature to an arbitrary quantum state, beyond simply the thermal (Gibbs)…
In classical thermodynamics the Euler relation is an expression for the internal energy as a sum of the products of canonical pairs of extensive and intensive variables. For quantum systems the situation is more intricate, since one has to…
Recent research on the thermodynamic arrow of time, at the microscopic scale, has questioned the universality of its direction. Theoretical studies showed that quantum correlations can be used to revert the natural heat flow (from the hot…
The study of quantum thermodynamics is key to the development of quantum thermal machines. In contrast to most of the previous proposals based on discrete strokes, here we consider a working substance that is permanently coupled to two or…
This mini-review is intended as a short introduction to electron flow in nanostructures. Its aim is to provide a brief overview of this topic for people who are interested in the thermodynamics of quantum systems but know little about…
We discuss the concept of local thermodynamical equilibrium in relativistic hydrodynamics in flat spacetime in a quantum statistical framework without an underlying kinetic description, suitable for strongly interacting fluids. We show that…
In this work we present a formalism to describe non equilibrium conditions in systems with a discretized energy spectrum, such as quantum systems. We develop a formalism based on a combination of Gibbs-Shannon entropy and information…
The principle that heat spontaneously flows from higher temperature to lower temperature is a cornerstone of classical thermodynamics, often assumed to be independent of the sequence of interactions. While this holds true for macroscopic…
Quantum thermalization describes how closed quantum systems can effectively reach thermal equilibrium, resolving the apparent incongruity between the reversibility of Schr\"odinger's equation and the second law of thermodynamics. Despite…
Quantum decoherence is seen as an undesired source of irreversibility that destroys quantum resources. Quantum coherences seem to be a property that vanishes at thermodynamic equilibrium. Away from equilibrium, quantum coherences challenge…
Originally formulated for macroscopic machines, the laws of thermodynamics were recently shown to hold for quantum systems coupled to ideal sources of work (external classical fields) and heat (systems at equilibrium). Ongoing efforts have…
It has been observed in many numerical simulations, experiments and from various theoretical treatments that heat transport in one-dimensional systems of interacting particles cannot be described by the phenomenological Fourier's law. The…