Related papers: Thermal machines beyond the weak coupling regime
Understanding how to assign internal energy, heat, and work in quantum systems beyond weak coupling remains a central problem in quantum thermodynamics, particularly as the difference between competing definitions becomes increasingly…
In this paper I apply newly-proposed information-theoretic principles to thermodynamic work extraction. I show that if it is possible to extract work deterministically from a physical system prepared in any one of a set of states, then…
Heat and work in thermodynamics refer to the measurement of changes in energy content of external bodies (baths and agents). We discuss the implications of quantum mechanics on the possibility to measure work in a mesoscopic context. The…
Understanding how coherence of quantum systems affects thermodynamic quantities, such as work and heat, is essential for harnessing quantumness effectively in thermal quantum technologies. Here, we study the unique contributions of quantum…
While strong system-bath coupling produces rich and interesting phenomena, applications to quantum thermal engines have been so far pointing mainly at detrimental effects. The delicate trade-off between efficiency loss due to strong…
We obtain an analytical expression for the heat current between two overdamped quantum oscillators interacting with local thermal baths at different temperatures. The total heat current is split into classical and quantum contributions. We…
Assuming time-scale separation, a simple and unified theory of thermodynamics and stochastic thermodynamics is constructed for small classical systems strongly interacting with its environment in a controllable fashion. The total…
We present a theoretical framework to investigate quantum thermodynamic processes under non-Markovian system-bath interactions on the basis of the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) approach, which is convenient to carry out…
In the quest for high-performance quantum thermal machines, looking for an optimal thermodynamic efficiency is only part of the issue. Indeed, at the level of quantum devices, fluctuations become extremely relevant and need to be taken into…
Work extraction from the Gibbs ensemble by a cyclic operation is impossible, as represented by the second law of thermodynamics. On the other hand, the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) states that just a single energy eigenstate…
A recently developed approach to the thermodynamics of open quantum systems, on the basis of the principle of minimal dissipation, is applied to the spin-boson model. Employing a numerically exact quantum dynamical treatment based on the…
We derive the work cost of using generalized thermal baths from the physical equivalence of quantum mechanics under unitary transformations. We demonstrate our method by considering a qubit extracting work from a single bath to amplify a…
Constructing optimal thermodynamic processes in quantum systems relies on managing the balance between the average excess work and its stochastic fluctuations. Recently it has been shown that two different quantum generalisations of…
We discuss the application of techniques of quantum estimation theory and quantum metrology to thermometry. The ultimate limit to the precision at which the temperature of a system at thermal equilibrium can be determined is related to the…
Do quantum correlations lead to better performance with respect to several different systems working independently? For quantum thermal machines, the question is whether a working medium (WM) made of $N$ constituents exhibits better…
We investigate the limits on cooling and work extraction via Markovian thermal processes assisted by a finite-dimensional memory. Here the memory is a $d$-dimensional quantum system with trivial Hamiltonian and initially in a maximally…
Light can be squeezed by reducing the quantum uncertainty of the electric field for some phases. We show how to use this purely quantum effect to extract net mechanical work from radiation pressure in a simple quantum photon engine. Along…
Information-theoretic approaches provide a promising avenue for extending the laws of thermodynamics to the nanoscale. Here, we provide a general fundamental lower limit, valid for systems with an arbitrary Hamiltonian and in contact with…
Understanding the thermal behavior of quantum many-body pure states is one of the most fundamental issues in quantum thermodynamics. It is widely known that typical pure states yield vanishing work, just as thermal states do, when one…
Theoretical treatments of periodically-driven quantum thermal machines (PD-QTMs) are largely focused on the limit-cycle stage of operation characterized by a periodic state of the system. Yet, this regime is not immediately accessible for…