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Thermalization is the process through which a physical system evolves toward a state of thermal equilibrium. Determining whether or not a physical system will thermalize from an initial state has been a key question in condensed matter…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-01-05 Dhruv Devulapalli , T. C. Mooney , James D. Watson

A quantum system can undergo a continuous phase transition at the absolute zero of temperature as some parameter entering its Hamiltonian is varied. These transitions are particularly interesting for, in contrast to their classical finite…

Condensed Matter · Physics 2009-10-28 S. L. Sondhi , S. M. Girvin , J. P. Carini , D. Shahar

We study the possibility of applying statistical mechanics to generally covariant quantum theories with a vanishing Hamiltonian. We show that (under certain appropiate conditions) this makes sense, in spite of the absence of a notion of…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2009-10-31 Merced Montesinos , Carlo Rovelli

The theory of quantum thermodynamics investigates how the concepts of heat, work, and temperature can be carried over to the quantum realm, where fluctuations and randomness are fundamentally unavoidable. These lecture notes provide an…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-04-17 Patrick P. Potts

In this paper we develop a quantum algorithm to realize finite temperature simulation on a quantum computer. As quantum computers use real-time evolution we did not use the imaginary time methods popular on classical algorithms. Instead, we…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-11-11 Raffaele Miceli , Michael McGuigan

The separation of internal energy into heat and work in quantum thermodynamics is a controversial issue for a long time, and we revisit and solve this problem in this work. It is shown that the Hamiltonian plays dual roles for a quantum…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-01-03 Tao Zhou , Jiangyang Pu , Xiaohua Wu

In this paper we examine the behavior in temperature of the free energy on quantum systems in an arbitrary number of dimensions. We define from the free energy a function $C$ of the coupling constants and the temperature, which in the…

Condensed Matter · Physics 2009-10-22 A. H. Castro Neto , Eduardo Fradkin

One of the principal objectives of quantum thermodynamics is to explore quantum effects and their potential beneficial role in thermodynamic tasks like work extraction or refrigeration. So far, even though several papers have already shown…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-04-22 C. L. Latune , I. Sinayskiy , F. Petruccione

A large class of isolated quantum system in a pure state can equilibrate and serve as a heat bath. We show that once the equilibrium is reached, any of its subsystems that is much smaller than the isolated system is thermalized such that…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2014-06-13 Quntao Zhuang , Biao Wu

We review the general aspects of the concept of temperature in equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Although temperature is an old and well-established notion, it still presents controversial facets. After a short…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2017-11-13 A. Puglisi , A. Sarracino , A. Vulpiani

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…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2025-07-29 Marco Cattaneo , Marco Baldovin , Dario Lucente , Paolo Muratore-Ginanneschi , Angelo Vulpiani

We model the dynamics of a closed quantum system brought out of mechanical equilibrium, undergoing a non-driven, spontaneous, thermodynamic transformation. In particular, we consider a quantum particle in a box with a moving and insulating…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-02-21 Sofia Sgroi , Mauro Paternostro

Quantum thermalization describes how closed quantum systems can effectively reach thermal equilibrium, resolving the apparent incongruity between the reversibility of Schr\"odinger's equation and the second law of thermodynamics. Despite…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-01-08 Saúl Pilatowsky-Cameo , Soonwon Choi

We consider blocks of quantum spins in a chain at thermal equilibrium, focusing on their properties from a thermodynamical perspective. Whereas in classical systems the temperature behaves as an intensive magnitude, a deviation from this…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2015-05-13 A. Garcia-Saez , A. Ferraro , A. Acin

Thermalization of isolated quantum systems has been studied intensively in recent years and significant progresses have been achieved. Here, we study thermalization of small quantum systems that interact with large chaotic environments…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2019-06-05 Jiaozi Wang , Wen-ge Wang , Jiao Wang

In this work, we study the pairing Hamiltonian with four particles at finite temperatures on a quantum simulator and a superconducting quantum computer. The excited states are obtained by the variational quantum deflation (VQD). The…

Nuclear Theory · Physics 2023-04-26 Chongji Jiang , Junchen Pei

The aim of this book chapter is to indicate how quantum phenomena are affecting the operation of microscopic thermal machines, such as engines and refrigerators. As converting heat to work is one of the fundamental concerns in…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-05-01 Amikam Levy , David Gelbwaser-Klimovsky

Absolute temperature, the fundamental temperature scale in thermodynamics, is usually bound to be positive. Under special conditions, however, negative temperatures - where high-energy states are more occupied than low-energy states - are…

In this article, we address the problem of how temperature of a quantum system is observed. By proposing a thought experiment, we argue that temperature must be conceived as an operator and its measurement must necessarily accompany a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-07-19 Sushrut Ghonge , Dervis Can Vural

The wide-spread opinion is that original quantum mechanics is a reversible theory, but this statement is only true for undecomposed systems, that are those systems which sub-systems are out of consideration. Taking sub-systems into account,…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-11-24 Wolfgang Muschik