Related papers: Thermodynamic length for far from equilibrium quan…
The work done when a system at thermal equilibrium is externally driven by a unitary control parameter leads to irreversible entropy production. The entropy produced can be thought of as a combination of coherence generation and a…
Thermodynamic principles are often deceptively simple and yet surprisingly powerful. We show how a simple rule, such as the net flow of energy in and out of a moving atom under nonequilibrium steady state condition, can expose the…
The minimal set of thermodynamic control parameters consists of a statistical (thermal) and a mechanical one. These suffice to introduce all the pertinent thermodynamic variables; thermodynamic processes can then be defined as paths on this…
The physical foundations of a variety of emerging technologies --- ranging from the applications of quantum entanglement in quantum information to the applications of nonequilibrium bulk and interface phenomena in microfluidics, biology,…
Considering an entropy-based division of energy transferred into heat and work, we develop an alternative theoretical framework for the thermodynamic analysis of two-level systems. When comparing these results with those obtained under the…
The thermodynamic limit of the internal energy and the entropy of the system of quantum interacting particles in random medium is shown to exist under the crucial requirements of stability and temperedness of interactions. The energy turns…
We discuss how the thermalization of an elementary quantum system is modified when the system is placed in an environment out of thermal equilibrium. To this aim we provide a detailed investigation of the dynamics of an atomic system placed…
The energy conversion efficiency of far-from-equilibrium systems is generally limited by irreversible thermodynamic fluxes that make contact with different heat baths. For complex systems, the states of the maximum efficiency and the…
A short introduction on quantum thermodynamics is given and three new topics are discussed: 1) Maximal work extraction from a finite quantum system. The thermodynamic prediction fails and a new, general result is derived, the ``ergotropy''.…
Within the framework of relativistic quantum field theory, a novel method is established which allows to distinguish non-equilibrium states admitting locally a thermodynamic interpretation. The basic idea is to compare these states with…
The effects of the initial temperature in the out of equilibrium quantum field dynamics in the presence of an homogeneous external field are investigated. We consider an initial thermal state of temperature T for a constant external field…
We present some novel thermodynamic ideas based on the Maupertuis principle. By considering Hamiltonians written in terms of appropriate action-angle variables we show that thermal states can be characterized by the action variables and by…
We derive a variational expression for the correlation time of physical observables in steady-state diffusive systems. As a consequence of this variational expression, we obtain lower bounds on the correlation time, which provide speed…
Equilibrium is a rather ideal situation, the exception rather than the rule in Nature. Whenever the external or internal parameters of a physical system are varied its subsequent relaxation to equilibrium may be either impossible or take…
Possible universal dynamics of a many-body system far from thermal equilibrium are explored. A focus is set on meta-stable non-thermal states exhibiting critical properties such as self-similarity and independence of the details of how the…
After the justification of the maximum entropy approach for equilibrium thermodynamic system, and of a maximum path entropy algorithm for nonequilibrium thermodynamic systems by virtue of the principle of virtual work, we present in this…
Physical systems driven away from equilibrium by an external controller dissipate heat to the environment; the excess entropy production in the thermal reservoir can be interpreted as a "cost" to transform the system in a finite time. The…
Biological and engineered systems operate by coupling function to the transfer of heat and/or particles down a thermal or chemical gradient. In idealized \textit{deterministically} driven systems, thermodynamic control can be exerted…
We have analytically explored thermodynamics of free Bose and Fermi gases for the entire range of temperature, and have extended the same for harmonically trapped cases. We have obtained approximate chemical potentials of the quantum gases…
A pair of two-level systems initially prepared in different thermal states and coupled to an external reversible work source, do not in general reach a common temperature at the end of a unitary work extraction process. We define an…