Related papers: Out-of-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics in the B…
In classical thermodynamic processes the unavoidable presence of irreversibility, quantified by the entropy production, carries two energetic footprints: the reduction of extractable work from the optimal, reversible case, and the…
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…
Incorporating time into thermodynamics allows addressing the tradeoff between efficiency and power. A qubit engine serves as a toy model to study this tradeoff from first principles, based on the quantum theory of open systems. We study the…
Estimating the temperature of a cold quantum system is difficult. Usually, one measures a well-understood thermal state and uses that prior knowledge to infer its temperature. In contrast, we introduce a method of thermometry that assumes…
The Kelvin-Planck statement of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is a stricture on the nature of heat receipt by any body suffering a cyclic process. It makes no mention of temperature or of entropy. Beginning with a Kelvin-Planck statement…
We formulate a minimal model of a quantum particle detector as an autonomous quantum thermal machine. Our goal is to establish how entropy production, which is needed to maintain the detector out of equilibrium, is linked to the quality of…
We show how to extend the concept of heat capacity to nonequilibrium systems. The main idea is to consider the excess heat released by an already dissipative system when slowly changing the environment temperature. We take the framework of…
Classical thermodynamics is unrivalled in its range of applications and relevance to everyday life. It enables a description of complex systems, made up of microscopic particles, in terms of a small number of macroscopic quantities, such as…
Real quantum heat engines lack the separation of time and length scales that is characteristic for classical engines. They must be understood as open quantum systems in non-equilibrium with time-controlled coupling to thermal reservoirs as…
The non-equilibrium process due to irreversible heat exchanges occurring during a temperature modulated differential scanning calorimetry experiment is investigated in detail. This enables us to define an experimental frequency dependent…
We study the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of pure decoherence processes in open quantum systems coupled to a thermal reservoir. We review various definitions of central quantities, such as internal energy, work, heat and entropy…
Equations are obtained for the quantum distribution functions over discrete states in systems of non-interacting fermions and bosons with an arbitrary, including small, number of particles. The case of systems with two levels is considered…
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…
We consider a quantum system of fixed size consisting of a regular chain of $n$-level subsystems, where $n$ is finite. Forming groups of $N$ subsystems each, we show that the strength of interaction between the groups scales with $N^{-…
Quantum coherence, the ability of a quantum system to be in a superposition of orthogonal quantum states, is a distinct feature of the quantum mechanics, thus marking a deviation from classical physics. Coherence finds its applications in…
This article sets up a new formalism to investigate stochastic thermodynamics of out-of-equilibrium quantum systems, where stochasticity primarily comes from quantum measurement. In the absence of any bath, we define a purely quantum…
The thermodynamics of small quantum many-body systems strongly coupled to a heat bath at low temperatures with non-Markovian behavior are new challenges for quantum thermodynamics, as traditional thermodynamics is built on large systems…
The total entropy production of stochastic systems can be divided into three quantities. The first corresponds to the excess heat, whilst the second two comprise the house-keeping heat. We denote these two components the transient and…
We consider open quantum systems consisting of a finite system of independent fermions with arbitrary Hamiltonian coupled to one or more equilibrium fermion reservoirs (which need not be in equilibrium with each other). A strong form of the…
We address a particular instance where open quantum systems may be used as quantum probes for an emergent property of a complex system, as the temperature of a thermal bath. The inherent fragility of the quantum probes against decoherence…