Related papers: Almost thermal operations: inhomogeneous reservoir…

From a new rigorous formulation of the general axiomatic foundations of thermodynamics we derive an operational definition of entropy that responds to the emergent need in many technological frameworks to understand and deploy thermodynamic…

We present some novel thermodynamic ideas based on the Maupertuis principle. By considering Hamiltonians written in terms of appropriate action-angle variables we show that thermal states can be characterized by the action variables and by…

The equipartition theorem states that in equilibrium thermal energy is equally distributed among uncoupled degrees of freedom which appear quadratically in the system's Hamiltonian. However, for spatially coupled degrees of freedom --- such…

In classical thermodynamics, heat must spontaneously flow from hot to cold systems. In quantum thermodynamics, the same law applies when considering multipartite product thermal states evolving unitarily. If initial correlations are…

With the help of time-dependent scattering theory on the observable algebra of infinitely extended quasifree fermionic chains, we introduce a general class of so-called right mover/left mover states which are inspired by the nonequilibrium…

We discuss what kind of quantum channels can enable thermalization processes. We show that in order to determine a system's temperature, a thermometer needs to dynamically gain information about the system's local Hamiltonian and not just…

We introduce a natural way of visualizing the entropy production in heat transfer processes between a system and a thermal reservoir. This representation is particularly useful to highlight the asymmetric character of the heating and…

Small, out-of-equilibrium, and quantum systems defy simple thermodynamic expressions. Such systems are exemplified by molecular switches, which exchange heat with a bath. These molecules can photoisomerize, or change conformation, or…

The study of thermal operations allows one to investigate the ultimate possibilities of quantum states and of nanoscale thermal machines. Whilst fairly general, these results typically do not apply to continuous variable systems and do not…

We establish a connection between non-Markovianity and negative entropy production rate for various classes of quantum operations. We analyse several aspects of unital and thermal operations in connection with resource theories of purity…

Thermal machines exploit interactions with multiple heat baths to perform useful tasks, such as work production and refrigeration. In the quantum regime, tasks with no classical counterpart become possible. Here, we consider the minimal…

We review several properties of thermal states of spin Hamiltonians with short range interactions. In particular, we focus on those aspects in which the application of tools coming from quantum information theory has been specially…

Isothermal processes of a finitely extended, driven quantum system in contact with an infinite heat bath are studied from the point of view of quantum statistical mechanics. Notions like heat flux, work and entropy are defined for…

A general formulation of stochastic thermodynamics is presented for open systems exchanging energy and particles with multiple reservoirs. By introducing a partition in terms of "macrostates" (e.g. sets of "microstates"), the consequence on…

The heat flow between a quantum system and its reservoir is analyzed when initially both are in a separable thermal state and asymptotically approach a correlated equilibrium. General findings are illustrated for specific systems and…

We obtain macroscopic isothermal thermodynamic transformations by space-time scalings of a microscopic Hamiltonian dynamics in contact with a heat bath. The microscopic dynamics is given by a chain of anharmonic oscillators subject to a…

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 many textbooks of thermodynamics, the polytropic process is usually introduced by defining its process equation rather than analyzing its actual origin. We realize a polytropic process of an ideal gas system when it is thermally contact…

Clausius' statement of the second law of thermodynamics reads: Heat will flow spontaneously from a hot to cold reservoir. This statement should hold for transport of energy through a quantum network composed of small subsystems each coupled…

Non-equilibrium effects may have a profound impact on the performance of thermal devices performing thermodynamic tasks such as refrigeration or heat pumping. The possibility of enhancing the performance of thermodynamic operations by means…