Related papers: Non-equilibrium quantum systems: Divergence betwee…
Photosynthesis is the basic process used by plants to convert light energy in reaction centers into chemical energy. The high efficiency of this process is not yet understood today. Using the formalism for the description of open quantum…
Information on quantum systems can be obtained only when they are open (or opened) in relation to a certain environment. As a matter of fact, realistic open quantum systems appear in very different shape. We sketch the theoretical…
Quantum systems are invariably open, evolving under surrounding influences rather than in isolation. Standard open quantum system methods eliminate all information on the environmental state to yield a tractable description of the system…
In natural light harvesting systems, the sequential quantum events of photon absorption by specialized biological antenna complexes, charge separation, exciton formation and energy transfer to localized reaction centers culminates in the…
A three level quantum system interacting with nonequilibrium environment is investigated. The stationary state of the system is found (both for non-coherent and coherent environment) and relaxation and decoherence to the stationary state is…
When dealing with system-reservoir interactions in an open quantum system, such as a photosynthetic light-harvesting complex, approximations are usually made to obtain the dynamics of the system. One question immediately arises: how good…
We study the internal dynamics of an elementary quantum system placed close to a body held at a temperature different from that of the surrounding radiation. We derive general expressions for lifetime and density matrix valid for bodies of…
The thermodynamics of quantum systems driven out of equilibrium has attracted increasing attention in last the decade, in connection with quantum information and statistical physics, and with a focus on non-classical signatures. While a…
The nature of excited states of open quantum systems produced by incoherent natural thermal light is analyzed based on a description of the generator of the dynamics. Natural thermal light is shown to generate long-lasting coherent dynamics…
This paper is a pedagogical yet critical introduction to the quantum description of unstable systems, mostly at the level of a graduate quantum mechanics course. Quantum decays appear in many different fields of physics, and their…
Creation of electron or exciton by external fields in a system with initially statistically independent unrelaxed vibrational modes leads to an initial condition term. The contribution of this term in the time convolution generalized master…
We study the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of pure decoherence processes in open quantum systems coupled to a thermal reservoir. We review various definitions of central quantities, such as internal energy, work, heat and entropy…
Theories in physics can provide a kind of map of the physical system under investigation, showing all of the possible types of behavior which may occur. Certain points on the map are of greater significance than others, because they…
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…
We show how statistical thermodynamics can be formulated in situations in which thermodynamics applies, while equilibrium statistical mechanics does not. A typical case is, in the words of Landau and Lifshitz, that of partial (or…
We present a construction of non-equilibrium steady states in one-dimensional quantum critical systems carrying energy and charge fluxes. This construction is based on a scattering approach within a real-time hamiltonian reservoir…
A two-mode optical parity-time (PT) symmetric system, with gain and damping, described by a quantum quadratic Hamiltonian with additional small Kerr-like nonlinear terms, is analyzed from the point of view of nonclassical-light generation.…
We investigate the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of pure decoherence. In a pure decoherence process, the system Hamiltonian is a constant of motion and there is no direct energy exchange between the system and its surroundings.…
Answering the titular question has become a central motivation in the field of quantum biology, ever since the idea was raised following a series of experiments demonstrating wave-like behavior in photosynthetic complexes. Here, we report a…
Nonequilibrium thermodynamics has shown its applicability in a wide variety of different situations pertaining to fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. As successful as it is, however, its current formulation…