Related papers: Heat capacity for systems with excited-state quant…
Quantum cycles in established heat engines can be modeled with various quantum systems as working substances. For example, a heat engine can be modeled with an infinite potential well as the working substance to determine the efficiency and…
By using a previously established exact characterization of the ground state of random potential systems in the thermodynamic limit, we determine the ground and first excited energy levels of quantum random energy models, discrete and…
For quantum systems that are weakly coupled to a much 'bigger' environment, thermalization of possibly far from equilibrium initial ensembles is demonstrated: for sufficiently large times, the ensemble is for all practical purposes…
The microcanonical ensemble has long been a starting point for the development of thermodynamics from statistical mechanics. However, this approach presents two problems. First, it predicts that the entropy is only defined on a discrete set…
We review the effects of excited-state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs) in interacting many-body systems with finite numbers of collective degrees of freedom. We classify typical ESQPT signatures in the spectra of energy eigenstates with…
A possible definition of the specific heat of open quantum systems is based on the reduced partition function of the system. For a free damped quantum particle, it has been found that under certain conditions, this specific heat can become…
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…
The standard assumption for the equilibrium microcanonical state in quantum mechanics, that the system must be in one of the energy eigenstates, is weakened so as to allow superpositions of states. The weakened form of the microcanonical…
The class of possible thermodynamic conversions can be extended by introducing an auxiliary system called catalyst, which assists state conversion while remaining its own state unchanged. We reveal a complete characterization of catalytic…
The unavoidable irreversible losses of power in a heat engine are found to be of quantum origin. Following thermodynamic tradition a model quantum heat engine operating by the Otto cycle is analyzed. The working medium of the model is…
A unified description of i) classical phase transitions and their remnants in finite systems and ii) quantum phase transitions is presented. The ensuing discussion relies on the interplay between, on the one hand, the thermodynamic concepts…
How does an electrochemical interface respond to changes in the electrode potential? How does the response affect the key properties of the system - energetics, excess charge, capacitance? Essential questions key to ab-initio simulations of…
Heat capacity of matter is considered to be its most important property because it holds information about system's degrees of freedom as well as the regime in which the system operates, classical or quantum. Heat capacity is well…
We present a detailed thermodynamic analysis of a three-level quantum heat engine coupled continuously to hot and cold reservoirs. The system is driven by an oscillating external field and is described by the Markovian quantum master…
The role of quantum entanglement in thermodynamical systems remains elusive. Does entanglement result in thermodynamic advantages or does it impose fundamental limitations? Here, we unambiguously quantify the amount of heat and work in a…
We show that a two-atoms Bose-Hubbard model exhibits three different phases in the behavior of thermal entanglement in its parameter space. These phases are demonstrated to be traceable back to the existence of quantum phase transitions in…
It is shown that negative heat capacity in nanoclusters is an artifact of applying equilibrium thermodynamic formalism on a small system trapped out of equilibrium in a particular structural motif representing only part of the energetically…
We calculate the energy and heat capacity of a liquid on the basis of its elastic properties and vibrational states. The experimental decrease of liquid heat capacity with temperature is attributed to the increasing loss of two transverse…
In the realm of statistical mechanics, it has been established that there is no distinction between the micro-canonical and canonical ensembles in the thermodynamic limit. However, this paradigm may alter when addressing statistical…
We present a detailed study of the quantum dissipative dynamics of a charged particle in a magnetic field. Our focus of attention is the effect of dissipation on the low- and high-temperature behavior of the specific heat at constant…