Related papers: Minimal work principle: proof and counterexamples
For two canonical examples of driven mesoscopic systems - a harmonically-trapped Brownian particle and a quantum dot - we numerically determine the finite-time protocols that optimize the compromise between the standard deviation and the…
This work focuses on the response to an external field of a Brownian particle submerged in an Ohmic quantum thermal bath. The field only affects the dynamics of the central particle without affecting the thermal reservoir. The thermodynamic…
We use rigorous non-equilibrium thermodynamic arguments to prove (i) the residual entropy of any system is bounded below by the experimentally (calorimetrically) determined absolute temperature entropy, which itself is bounded below by the…
Adiabatic passage employs a slowly varying time-dependent Hamiltonian to control the evolution of a quantum system along the Hamiltonian eigenstates. For processes of finite duration, the exact time evolving state may deviate from the…
The principle of microscopic reversibility lies at the core of fluctuation theorems, which have extended our understanding of the second law of thermodynamics to the statistical level. In the quantum regime, however, this elementary…
Constructing optimal thermodynamic processes in quantum systems relies on managing the balance between the average excess work and its stochastic fluctuations. Recently it has been shown that two different quantum generalisations of…
For closed quantum systems driven away from equilibrium, work is often defined in terms of projective measurements of initial and final energies. This definition leads to statistical distributions of work that satisfy nonequilibrium work…
A version of the second law of thermodynamics states that one cannot lower the energy of an isolated system by a cyclic operation. We prove this law without introducing statistical ensembles and by resorting only to quantum mechanics. We…
Under a general framework, shortcuts to adiabatic processes are shown to be possible in classical systems. We then study the distribution function of the work done on a small system initially prepared at thermal equilibrium. It is found…
We define thermodynamic configurations and identify two primitives of discrete quantum processes between configurations for which heat and work can be defined in a natural way. This allows us to uncover a general second law for any discrete…
In an essential and quite general setup, based on networks, we identify Schnakenberg's observables as the constraints that prevent a system from relaxing to equilibrium, showing that, in the linear regime, steady states satisfy a minimum…
Characterizing fluctuations of work in coherent quantum systems is notoriously problematic. Here we reveal the ultimate source of the problem by proving that ($\mathfrak{A}$) energy conservation and ($\mathfrak{B}$) the Jarzynski…
We use the work done on and the heat removed from a system to maintain it in a nonequilibrium steady state for a thermodynamic-like description of such a system as well as of its fluctuations. Based on a generalized Onsager-Machlup theory…
Information-theoretic approaches provide a promising avenue for extending the laws of thermodynamics to the nanoscale. Here, we provide a general fundamental lower limit, valid for systems with an arbitrary Hamiltonian and in contact with…
Quantum annealing is a promising algorithm for solving combinatorial optimization problems. It searches for the ground state of the Ising model, which corresponds to the optimal solution of a given combinatorial optimization problem. The…
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…
We discuss the validity of close-to-equilibrium entropy production principles in the context of linear electrical circuits. Both the minimum and the maximum entropy production principle are understood within dynamical fluctuation theory.…
This paper investigates a minimal time control problem for the heat equation with multiple impulse controls. We first establish the maximum principles for this problem and then prove the equivalence between the minimal time impulse control…
The quantum Ising chain has shortcuts to adiabaticity when operated with weak processes. However, when exactly do the non-equilibrium effects of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, inherent to the system, appear in the optimal protocols in such a…
The quantum adiabatic theorem, a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, asserts that a gapped quantum system remains in its instantaneous eigenstate during sufficiently slow evolution, provided no resonances occur. Here we challenge this…