Related papers: Imperfect Thermalizations Allow for Optimal Thermo…
We consider a thermodynamic machine in which the working fluid is a quantized harmonic oscillator that is controlled on timescales that are much faster than the oscillator period. We find that operation in this `fast' regime allows access…
Technological and scientific advances have given rise to an era in which coherent quantum-mechanical phenomena can be probed and experimentally-realised over unprecedented timescales in condensed matter physics. In turn, scientific interest…
The unknown temperature of a sample may be estimated with minimal disturbance by putting it in thermal contact with an individual quantum probe. If the interaction time is sufficiently long so that the probe thermalizes, the temperature can…
Quantum technologies will ultimately require manipulating many-body quantum systems with high precision. Cold atom experiments represent a stepping stone in that direction: a high degree of control has been achieved on systems of increasing…
An intriguing phenomenon in non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics is the asymmetry of thermal processes. Relaxation to thermal equilibrium is the most important dissipative process, being a key concept for the design of heat engines and…
We introduce a finite-time protocol that thermalizes a quantum harmonic oscillator, initially in its ground state, without requiring a macroscopic bath. The method uses a second oscillator as an effective environment and implements sudden…
We study the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of a heat engine operating between two finite-sized reservoirs with well-defined temperatures. Within the linear response regime, it is found that the uniform temperature of the two reservoirs at…
Minimal, open quantum systems that are governed by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians have been realized across multiple platforms in the past two years. Here we investigate the dynamics of open systems with Hermitian or anti-Hermitian…
We propose new quantum algorithms for thermal and ground state preparation based on system-bath interactions. These algorithms require only forward evolution under a system-bath Hamiltonian in which the bath is a single reusable ancilla…
Thermodynamics is traditionally constrained to the study of macroscopic systems whose energy fluctuations are negligible compared to their average energy. Here, we push beyond this thermodynamic limit by developing a mathematical framework…
Small quantum systems non-weakly coupled to a bath become in the quantum regime surrounded by a cloud of photons or phonons, which modifies their thermodynamic behavior. Exactly solvable examples are the Brownian motion of a quantum…
Thermal operations are a generic description for allowed state transitions under thermodynamic restrictions. However, the quest for simpler methods to encompass all these processes remains unfulfilled. We resolve this challenge through the…
We introduce the resource-theoretic free energy of a quantum channel as the maximal work extractable from the channel as its output equilibrates to a thermal state and its reference system remains locally intact. It is proportional to the…
The second law of thermodynamics, formulated as an ultimate bound on the maximum extractable work, has been rigorously derived in multiple scenarios. However, the unavoidable limitations that emerge due to the lack of control on small…
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…
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…
Thermodynamics (in concert with its sister discipline, statistical physics) can be regarded as a data reduction scheme based on partitioning a total system into a subsystem and a bath that weakly interact with each other. The ubiquity and…
Biological and engineered systems operate by coupling function to the transfer of heat and/or particles down a thermal or chemical gradient. In idealized \textit{deterministically} driven systems, thermodynamic control can be exerted…
Interactions of quantum systems with their environment play a crucial role in resource-theoretic approaches to thermodynamics in the microscopic regime. Here, we analyze the possible state transitions in the presence of "small" heat baths…
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,…