Related papers: Work and reversibility in quantum thermodynamics
Classical engines turn thermal resources into work, which is maximized for reversible operations. The quantum realm has expanded the range of useful operations beyond energy conversion, and incoherent resources beyond thermal reservoirs.…
Incorporating time into thermodynamics allows addressing the tradeoff between efficiency and power. A qubit engine serves as a toy model to study this tradeoff from first principles, based on the quantum theory of open systems. We study the…
The interplay between quantum-mechanical properties, such as coherence, and classical notions, such as energy, is a subtle topic at the forefront of quantum thermodynamics. The traditional Carnot argument limits the conversion of heat to…
There are several inequalities in physics which limit how well we can process physical systems to achieve some intended goal, including the second law of thermodynamics, entropy bounds in quantum information theory, and the uncertainty…
Quantum open systems evolve according to completely positive, trace preserving maps acting on the density operator, which can equivalently be unraveled in term of so-called quantum trajectories. These stochastic sequences of pure states…
After a brief historical perspective, we introduce the key notions of work and heat for quantum systems, to then apply them to quantum engines operating on quantum Otto and Carnot cycles. The irreversible and dissipative character of the…
We find necessary and sufficient conditions to determine the inter-convertibility of quantum systems under time-translation covariant evolution, and use it to solve several problems in quantum thermodynamics both in the single-shot and…
When reformulated as a resource theory, thermodynamics can analyze system behaviors in the single-shot regime. In this, the work required to implement state transitions is bounded by {\alpha}-Renyi divergences and so differs in identifying…
We investigate and ascertain the ideal inputs to any finite-time thermodynamic process. We demonstrate that the expectation values of entropy flow, heat, and work can all be determined via Hermitian observables of the initial state. These…
It is shown how information contained in the pairwise correlations (in general, partial) between atoms of a gas can be used to completely convert heat taken from a thermostat into mechanical work in a process of relaxation of the system to…
Equilibrium thermodynamics is combined with Jarzynski's irreversible work theorem to quantify the excess entropy produced by irreversible processes. The resulting rectified form of the second law parallels the first law, in the sense that…
Developments in the thermodynamics of small quantum systems envisage non-classical thermal machines. In this scenario, energy fluctuations play a relevant role in the description of irreversibility. We experimentally implement a quantum…
Motivated by the recent interest in thermodynamics of micro- and mesoscopic quantum systems we study the maximal amount of work that can be reversibly extracted from a quantum system used to store temporarily energy. Guided by the notion of…
We investigate experimentally the relation between thermodynamical irreversibility and dissipation on a superconducting Xmon qubit. This relation also implies the second law and the Landauer principle on dissipation in the irreversible…
For an understanding of a heat engine working in the microscopic scale, it is often necessary to estimate the amount of reversible work extracted by isothermal expansion of the quantum gas used as its working substance. We consider an…
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…
In this paper, unambiguous redefinitions of heat and work are presented for quantum thermodynamic systems. We will use genuine reasoning based on which Clausius originally defined work and heat in establishing thermodynamics. The change in…
Among the most fundamental questions in the manipulation of quantum resources such as entanglement is the possibility of reversibly transforming all resource states. The key consequence of this would be the identification of a unique…
According to the first and second laws of thermodynamics and the definitions of work and heat, microscopic expressions for the non-equilibrium entropy production have been achieved. Recently, a redefinition of heat has been presented in…
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,…