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The stationary state of a quantum particle strongly coupled to a quantum thermal bath is known to be non-gibbsian, due to entanglement with the bath. For harmonic potentials, where the system can be described by effective temperatures,…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2009-10-31 A. E. Allahverdyan , Th. M. Nieuwenhuizen

We argue that thermal machines can be understood from the perspective of `virtual qubits' at `virtual temperatures': The relevant way to view the two heat baths which drive a thermal machine is as a composite system. Virtual qubits are…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2012-08-14 Nicolas Brunner , Noah Linden , Sandu Popescu , Paul Skrzypczyk

In this review the debated rapport between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics is addressed in the framework of the theory of periodically-driven/controlled quantum-thermodynamic machines. The basic model studied here is that of a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2015-09-15 D. Gelbwaser-Klimovsky , Wolfgang Niedenzu , Gershon Kurizki

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…

The resource theory of quantum thermodynamics has been a very successful theory and has generated much follow-up work in the community. It requires energy-preserving unitary operations to be implemented over a system, bath, and catalyst as…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-03-13 Mischa P. Woods , Michał Horodecki

Several prior attempts to formulate the Laws of Thermodynamics for a small region within a larger quantum system have led to inconsistencies and unexplained infinities. The entropy and external work, in particular, require careful analysis…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-06-26 Parth Kumar , Charles A. Stafford

At non-zero temperature classical systems exhibit statistical fluctuations of thermodynamic quantities arising from the variation of the system's initial conditions and its interaction with the environment. The fluctuating work, for…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-02-07 Rui Sampaio , Samu Suomela , Tapio Ala-Nissila , Janet Anders , Thomas Philbin

Non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics is essential to describe new devices that operate far from the regime where the usual thermodynamical laws are obeyed. When quantum fluctuations dominate, defining and measuring work and heat, two…

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…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2015-06-23 Bruno Leggio , Bruno Bellomo , Mauro Antezza

The resource theory of thermal operations explains the state transformations that are possible in a very specific thermodynamic setting: there is only one thermal bath, auxiliary systems can only be in corresponding thermal state (free…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-10-15 Angeline Shu , Yu Cai , Stella Seah , Stefan Nimmrichter , Valerio Scarani

We consider the amount of work which can be extracted from a heat bath using a bipartite state shared by two parties. In general it is less then the amount of work extractable when one party is in possession of the entire state. We derive…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2009-11-07 Jonathan Oppenheim , Michal Horodecki , Pawel Horodecki , Ryszard Horodecki

Thermal machines perform useful tasks--such as producing work, cooling, or heating--by exchanging energy, and possibly additional conserved quantities such as particles, with reservoirs. Here we consider thermal machines that perform more…

How to rigorously define thermodynamic quantities such as heat, work, and internal energy in open quantum systems driven far from equilibrium remains a significant open question in quantum thermodynamics. Heat is a quantity whose…

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics · Physics 2023-07-18 Parth Kumar , Charles A. Stafford

This work focuses on the response to an external field of a Brownian particle submerged in an Ohmic quantum thermal bath. The field only affects the dynamics of the central particle without affecting the thermal reservoir. The thermodynamic…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-11-12 Pedro J. Colmenares

Quantum thermodynamics supplies a consistent description of quantum heat engines and refrigerators up to the level of a single few level system coupled to the environment. Once the environment is split into three;a hot, cold and work…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2015-04-17 Ronnie Kosloff , Amikam Levy

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…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2009-11-13 Jan Birjukov , Thomas Jahnke , Günter Mahler

The wave-like nature of electrons leads to the existence of upper bounds on the thermoelectric response of nanostructured devices [R. S. Whitney, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 130601 (2014); Phys. Rev. B 91, 115425 (2015)]. This fundamental result,…

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics · Physics 2022-08-24 Giuseppe Bevilacqua , Alessandro Cresti , Giuseppe Grosso , Guido Menichetti , Giuseppe Pastori Parravicini

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy of a closed system is non-decreasing. Discussing the Second Law in the quantum world poses new challenges and provides new opportunities, involving fundamental…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2016-12-01 A. V. Lebedev , D. Oehri , G. B. Lesovik , G. Blatter

The laws of thermodynamics strongly restrict the performance of thermal machines. Standard thermodynamics, initially developed for uncorrelated macroscopic systems, does not hold for microscopic systems correlated with their environments.…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-13 Milton Aguilar , Eric Lutz

I consider the non-equilibrium DC transport of electrons through a quantum system with a thermoelectric response. This system may be any nanostructure or molecule modeled by the nonlinear scattering theory which includes Hartree-like…

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics · Physics 2013-03-06 Robert S. Whitney