Related papers: Approximate second laws and energy extraction from…
Real-time perturbation theory is formulated for complex scalar fields away from thermal equilibrium in such a way that dissipative effects arising from the absorptive parts of loop diagrams are approximately resummed into the unperturbed…
We show that the maximum extractable work (ergotropy) from a quantum many-body system is constrained by local athermality of an initial state and local entropy decrease brought about by quantum operations. The obtained universal upper bound…
We consider a single harmonic oscillator coupled to a bath at zero temperature. As is well known, the oscillator then has a higher average energy than that given by its ground state. Here we show analytically that for a damping model with…
Prethermalization has been extensively studied in systems close to integrability. We propose a more general, yet conceptually simpler, setup for this phenomenon. We consider a---possibly nonintegrable---reference dynamics, weakly perturbed…
A comprehensive and detailed account is presented for the finite-temperature many-body perturbation theory for electrons that expands in power series all thermodynamic functions on an equal footing. Algebraic recursions in the style of the…
We study the finite-temperature scrambling behavior of a quantum system described by a Hamiltonian chosen from a random matrix ensemble. This effectively (0+1)-dimensional model admits an exact calculation of various ensemble-averaged…
The minimal work principle states that work done on a thermally isolated equilibrium system is minimal for adiabatically slow (reversible) realization of a given process. This principle, one of the formulations of the second law, is studied…
Thermalization processes degrade the states of any working medium, turning any initial state into a passive state from which no work can be extracted. Recently, it has been shown that this degradation can be avoided if two identical…
Non-Markovianity and athermality are useful resources in quantum technologies, and it is therefore important to understand the relations between the two, for general quantum dynamics. We propose three measures of non-Markovianity, first…
Quantum dynamics controlled by a time-dependent coupling constant are studied. It is proven that an energy eigenstate expectation value of work done by the system in a quench process cannot exceed the work in the corresponding quasi-static…
Materials that are constantly driven out of thermodynamic equilibrium, such as active and living systems, typically violate the Einstein relation. This may arise from active contributions to particle fluctuations which are unrelated to the…
We consider nonequilibrium transport in a simple chain of identical mechanical cells in which particles move around. In each cell, there is a rotating disc, with which these particles interact, and this is the only interaction in the model.…
We study the internal dynamics of an elementary quantum system placed close to a body held at a temperature different from that of the surrounding radiation. We derive general expressions for lifetime and density matrix valid for bodies of…
In the abstract of~[Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 125}, 040601 (2020)] one can read that: [...]{\it to have a nonzero rate of change of the extractable work, the state $\rho_\mathcal{W}$ of the battery cannot be an eigenstate of a "free energy…
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 damped stochastic systems in a controlled (time-varying) quadratic potential and study their transition between specified Gibbs-equilibria states in finite time. By the second law of thermodynamics, the minimum amount of work…
We investigate manipulations of pure quantum states under incoherent or strictly incoherent operations assisted by a coherence battery, that is, a storage device whose degree of coherence is allowed to fluctuate in the process. This leads…
The energy conversion efficiency of far-from-equilibrium systems is generally limited by irreversible thermodynamic fluxes that make contact with different heat baths. For complex systems, the states of the maximum efficiency and the…
Physical devices operating out of equilibrium are inherently affected by thermal fluctuations, limiting their operational precision. This issue is pronounced at microscopic and especially quantum scales and can only be mitigated by…
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…