Related papers: No Entropy Production in Quantum Thermodynamics
Cyclic classical and quantum thermal machines show higher efficiency when the strokes are carried out quasi-statically. Recent theoretical and experimental work on figures of merit for thermal machines show that they have an advantage when…
We consider a question motivated by the third law of thermodynamics: can there be a local temperature arbitrarily close to absolute zero in a nonequilibrium quantum system? We consider nanoscale quantum conductors with the source reservoir…
Entanglement and entropy are key concepts standing at the foundations of quantum and statistical mechanics, respectively. In the last decade the study of quantum quenches revealed that these two concepts are intricately intertwined.…
Entropy in thermodynamics is an extensive quantity, whereas standard methods in statistical mechanics give rise to a non-extensive expression for the entropy. This discrepancy is often seen as a sign that basic formulas of statistical…
We study the nonequilibrium steady-state of a fully-coupled network of $N$ quantum harmonic oscillators, interacting with two thermal reservoirs. Given the long-range nature of the couplings, we consider two setups: one in which the number…
This paper is a non-technical, informal presentation of our theory of the second law of thermodynamics as a law that is independent of statistical mechanics and that is derivable solely from certain simple assumptions about adiabatic…
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 analyze the entropy production and the maximal extractable work from a squeezed thermal reservoir. The nonequilibrium quantum nature of the reservoir induces an entropy transfer with a coherent contribution while modifying its thermal…
We investigate the thermodynamic behavior of open quantum systems through the Hamiltonian of Mean Force, focusing on two models: a two-qubit system interacting with a thermal bath and a Jaynes-Cummings Model without the rotating wave…
The Brownian motion of a quantum particle in a harmonic confining potential and coupled to a harmonic quantum thermal bath is exactly solvable. It is shown that at low enough temperatures the stationary state is non-Gibbsian due to an…
We investigate the entropic consequences of the relaxation of an open two-level quantum system towards a thermalised statistical state, using a framework of quantum state diffusion with a minimal set of raising and lowering Lindblad…
The free energy of a quantum oscillator in an arbitrary heat bath at a temperature T is given by a "remarkable formula" which involves only a single integral. This leads to a corresponding simple result for the entropy. The low temperature…
We demonstrate that, for a quantum Markovian semigroup on a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, if it satisfies the standard quantum detailed balance condition, its generator admits a special representation that yields a vanishing entropy…
Thermodynamic principles are often deceptively simple and yet surprisingly powerful. We show how a simple rule, such as the net flow of energy in and out of a moving atom under nonequilibrium steady state condition, can expose the…
In classical Hamiltonian theories, entropy may be understood either as a statistical property of canonical systems, or as a mechanical property, that is, as a monotonic function of the phase space along trajectories. In classical mechanics,…
Thermodynamic irreversibility is well characterized by the entropy production arising from non-equilibrium quantum processes. We show that the entropy production of a quantum system undergoing open-system dynamics can be formally split into…
Irreversibility is a fundamental concept with important implications at many levels. It pinpoints the fundamental difference between the intrinsically reversible microscopic equations of motion and the unidirectional arrow of time that…
We consider a situation where an $N$-level system (NLS) is coupled to a heat bath without being necessarily thermalized. For this situation we derive general Jarzinski-type equations and conclude that heat and entropy is flowing from the…
Understanding the quantum nature of the gravitational field is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges in theoretical physics. Despite significant progress, a complete and consistent theory remains elusive. However, in the weak field…
Based on the view that thermal equilibrium should be characterized through macroscopic observations, we develop a general theory about typicality of thermal equilibrium and the approach to thermal equilibrium in macroscopic quantum systems.…