Related papers: Quantum detailed balance conditions and fluctuatio…
In this work we investigate the late-time stationary states of open quantum systems coupled to a thermal reservoir in the strong coupling regime. In general such systems do not necessarily relax to a Boltzmann distribution if the coupling…
A theoretical study is reported of electron transport at finite temperature in a double quantum dot (DQD) capacitively coupled to a quantum point contact (QPC). Starting from a Hamiltonian model, a master equation is obtained for the…
Open quantum systems, when driven by a periodic field, can relax to effective statistical ensembles that resemble their equilibrium counterparts. We consider a class of problems in which a periodically- driven quantum system is allowed to…
We establish an analytical criterion for dynamical thermalization within harmonic systems, applicable to both classical and quantum models. Specifically, we prove that thermalization of various observables, such as particle energies in…
Equilibrium theormodynamics is characterized by two fundamental ideas: thermalisation--that systems approach a late time thermal state; and phase structure--that thermal states exhibit singular changes as various parameters characterizing…
The dynamics of a wide range of technologically important quantum systems are dominated by their interaction with just a few environmental modes. Such highly structured environments give rise to long-lived bath correlations that induce…
Stochastic and dynamical processes lie at the heart of all physical, chemical, and biological systems. However, kinetic and thermodynamic properties which characterize these processes have largely been treated separately as they can be…
We provide a characterization of energy in the form of exchanged heat and work between two interacting constituents of a closed, bipartite, correlated quantum system. By defining a binding energy we derive a consistent quantum formulation…
The local equilibration time of quantum many-body systems has been conjectured to satisfy a `Planckian bound', $\tau_{\rm eq}\gtrsim \frac{\hbar}{T}$. We provide a sharp and universal definition of this time scale, and show that it is…
Thermalization in open systems coupled to macroscopic environments is usually analyzed from the perspective of relaxation of the reduced state of the system to the equilibrium state. Less emphasis is given to the change of the state of the…
For processes during which a macroscopic system exchanges no heat with its surroundings, the second law of thermodynamics places two lower bounds on the amount of work performed on the system: a weak bound, expressed in terms of a…
The proof of the long-standing conjecture is presented that Markovian quantum master equations are at odds with quantum thermodynamics under conventional assumptions of fluctuation-dissipation theorems (implying a translation invariant…
Fluctuation theorems provide universal constraints on nonequilibrium energy and entropy fluctuations, making them a natural framework to assess how and to what extent quantum resources become thermodynamically relevant. We develop a unified…
We reveal several distinct regimes of the relaxation dynamics of a small quantum system coupled to an environment within the plane of the dissipation strength and the reservoir temperature. This is achieved by discriminating between…
A quantum-mechanical framework is set up to describe the full counting statistics of particles flowing between reservoirs in an open system under time-dependent driving. A symmetry relation is obtained which is the consequence of…
The second law of thermodynamics places a limitation into which states a system can evolve into. For systems in contact with a heat bath, it can be combined with the law of energy conservation, and it says that a system can only evolve into…
We derive a general set of fluctuation relations for a nonequilibrium open quantum system described by a Lindblad master equation. In the special case of conservative Hamiltonian dynamics, these identities allow us to retrieve quantum…
A general expression for the temperature of a finite-dimensional quantum system is deduced from thermodynamic arguments. At equilibrium, this magnitude coincides with the standard thermodynamic temperature. Furthermore, it is well-defined…
The principle of microscopic reversibility is a fundamental element in the formulation of fluctuation relations and the Onsager reciprocal relations. As such, a clear description of whether and how this principle is adapted to the quantum…
A sweep through a quantum phase transition by means of a time-dependent external parameter (e.g., pressure) entails non-equilibrium phenomena associated with a break-down of adiabaticity: At the critical point, the energy gap vanishes and…