Related papers: Elementary Thermal Operations
Thermodynamic random processes in thermal systems are generally associated with one or several relaxation times, the inverse of which are formally homogeneous with energy. Here, we show in a precise way that the periodic modification of…
We define thermodynamic configurations and identify two primitives of discrete quantum processes between configurations for which heat and work can be defined in a natural way. This allows us to uncover a general second law for any discrete…
In this article we explore the set of thermal operations from a mathematical and topological point of view. First we introduce the concept of Hamiltonians with resonant spectrum with respect to some reference Hamiltonian, followed by…
Accurately describing work extraction from a quantum system is a central objective for the extension of thermodynamics to individual quantum systems. The concepts of work and heat are surprisingly subtle when generalizations are made to…
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…
We investigate the connection between recent results in quantum thermodynamics and fluctuation relations by adopting a fully quantum mechanical description of thermodynamics. By including a work system whose energy is allowed to fluctuate,…
The classical thermodynamic laws fail to capture the behavior of systems with energy Hamiltonian which is an explicit function of the temperature. Such Hamiltonian arises, for example, in modeling information processing systems, like…
How much work can be extracted from a heat bath using a thermal machine? The study of this question has a very long tradition in statistical physics in the weak-coupling limit, applied to macroscopic systems. However, the assumption that…
We extend the tools of quantum resource theories to scenarios in which multiple quantities (or resources) are present, and their interplay governs the evolution of physical systems. We derive conditions for the interconversion of these…
We formulate a geometric framework in which physical laws emerge from restricted access to microscopic information. Measurement constraints are modeled as a gauge symmetry acting on density operators, inducing a gauge-reduced space of…
We consider the problem of finding the energy minimum of a complex quantum Hamiltonian by employing a non-Markovian bath prepared in a low energy state. The energy minimization problem is thus turned into a thermodynamic cooling protocol in…
We study thermodynamic processes in contact with a heat bath that may have an arbitrary time-varying periodic temperature profile. Within the framework of stochastic thermodynamics, and for models of thermo-dynamic engines in the idealized…
We revisit the concavity property of the thermodynamic entropy in order to formulate a general proof of the minimum energy principle as well as of other equivalent extremum principles that are valid for thermodynamic potentials and…
Hamiltonian mechanics can be used to constrain temperature simultaneously with energy. We illustrate the interesting situations that develop when two different temperatures are imposed within a composite Hamiltonian system. The model…
Operational quantum stochastic thermodynamics is a recently proposed theory to study the thermodynamics of open systems based on the rigorous notion of a quantum stochastic process or quantum causal model. In there, a stochastic trajectory…
In classical thermodynamics the work cost of control can typically be neglected. On the contrary, in quantum thermodynamics the cost of control constitutes a fundamental contribution to the total work cost. Here, focusing on quantum…
We explore the thermodynamics of quantum processes (quantum channels) by axiomatically introducing the free energy for channels, defined via the quantum relative entropy with an absolutely thermal channel whose fixed output is in…
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…
Resource theory is a general, model-independent approach aiming to understand the qualitative notion of resource quantitatively. In a given resource theory, free operations are physical processes that do not create the resource and are…
Recent progress in the synthesis and processing of nano-structured materials and systems calls for an improved understanding of thermal properties on small length scales. In this context, the question whether thermodynamics and, in…