Related papers: Restoring the second law to classical-quantum dyna…

We discuss the problem of heat conduction in classical and quantum low dimensional systems from a microscopic point of view. At the classical level we provide convincing numerical evidence for the validity of Fourier law of heat conduction…

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…

Despite its enormous empirical success, the formalism of quantum theory still raises fundamental questions: why is nature described in terms of complex Hilbert spaces, and what modifications of it could we reasonably expect to find in some…

The second law of thermodynamics tells us which state transformations are so statistically unlikely that they are effectively forbidden. Its original formulation, due to Clausius, states that "Heat can never pass from a colder to a warmer…

The essential postulates of classical thermodynamics are formulated, from which the second law is deduced as the principle of increase of entropy in irreversible adiabatic processes that take one equilibrium state to another. The entropy…

Systems at finite temperature make up the vast majority of realistic physical scenarios. Indeed, although zero temperature is often accompanied by simpler mathematics, the richness in physical results is evident when one considers the…

The second law of thermodynamics is discussed and reformulated from a quantum information theoretic perspective for open quantum systems using relative entropy. Specifically, the relative entropy of a quantum state with respect to…

Equilibrium statistics of Hamiltonian systems is correctly described by the microcanonical ensemble, whereas canonical ones fail in the most interesting, mostly inhomogeneous, situations like phase separations or away from the thermodynamic…

The approach to a substantiation of thermodynamics is offered. A conservative system of interacting elements, which is not in equilibrium, is used as a model. This system is then split into small subsystems that are accepted as being in…

We consider a recently proposed model of driven open quantum microcircuit [F. Pellegrini et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 060401 (2011)] amenable to experimental investigations. We show that such an open quantum system provides a concrete…

We consider the physical model of a classical mechanical system (called "small system") undergoing repeated interactions with a chain of identical small pieces (called "environment"). This physical setup constitutes an advantageous way of…

The thermodynamics of quantum systems coupled to periodically modulated heat baths and work reservoirs is developed. By identifying affinities and fluxes, the first and second law are formulated consistently. In the linear response regime,…

The second law of thermodynamics places a limitation into which states a system can evolve into. For systems in contact with a heat bath, it can be combined with the law of energy conservation, and it says that a system can only evolve into…

It has long been recognized that the dynamics of linear quantum systems is classical in the Wigner representation. Yet many conceptually important linear problems are typically analyzed using such generally applicable techniques as…

We prove the second law of thermodynamics and the nonequilibirum fluctuation theorem for pure quantum states.The entire system obeys reversible unitary dynamics, where the initial state of the heat bath is not the canonical distribution but…

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…

We develop the strong coupling quantum thermodynamics based on the solution of the exact master equation. We find that both the Hamiltonian and the temperature must be renormalized due to the system-reservoir couplings. With the…

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, to make clear (and de-mystify) the basic concepts of classical thermodynamics, and thus to enable the integration of thermodynamics within systems modeling and control. Second, to demonstrate…

We present an approach for carrying out non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations of systems in which non-adiabatic transitions arise from the coupling between the classical atomic motions and a quasi-continuum of electronic quantum…

We prove that for a combined system of classical and quantum particles, it is possible to write a dynamics for the classical particles that incorporates in a natural way the Boltzmann equilibrium population for the quantum subsystem. In…