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Quantum thermodynamics is an emerging research field aiming to extend standard thermodynamics and non-equilibrium statistical physics to ensembles of sizes well below the thermodynamic limit, in non-equilibrium situations, and with the full…
Models of nonequilibrium quantum transport underpin all modern electronic devices, from the largest scales to the smallest. Past simplifications such as coarse graining and bulk self-averaging served well to understand electronic materials.…
Quantum thermodynamics aims at extending standard thermodynamics and non-equilibrium statistical physics to systems with sizes well below the thermodynamic limit. A rapidly evolving research field, which promises to change our understanding…
The problem of time-dependent particle transport in quantum conductors is nowadays a well established topic. In contrast, the way in which energy and heat flow in mesoscopic systems subjected to dynamical drivings is a relatively new…
The theory of quantum thermodynamics investigates how the concepts of heat, work, and temperature can be carried over to the quantum realm, where fluctuations and randomness are fundamentally unavoidable. These lecture notes provide an…
Advances in the fabrication and characterization of nanoscale systems now allow for a deeper understanding of one of the most basic issues in science and technology: the flow of energy at the microscopic level. In this Colloquium we survey…
In this perspective, we discuss thermal imbalance and the associated electron-mediated thermal transport in quantum electronic devices at very low temperatures. We first present the theoretical approaches describing heat transport in…
We review recent developments in nonlinear quantum transport through nanostructures and mesoscopic systems driven by thermal gradients or in combination with voltage biases. Low-dimensional conductors are excellent platforms to analyze both…
A unified view on macroscopic thermodynamics and quantum transport is presented. Thermodynamic processes with an exchange of energy between two systems necessarily involve the flow of other balanceable quantities. These flows are first…
I consider the non-equilibrium DC transport of electrons through a quantum system with a thermoelectric response. This system may be any nanostructure or molecule modeled by the nonlinear scattering theory which includes Hartree-like…
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…
This Colloquium is a fast journey through the build-up of key thermodynamical concepts, i.e. work, heat and irreversibility -- and how they relate to information. Born at the time of industrial revolution to optimize the exploitation of…
The microscopic origins of Fourier's venerable law of thermal transport in quantum electron systems has remained somewhat of a mystery, given that previous derivations were forced to invoke intrinsic scattering rates far exceeding those…
Fluctuation theorems are fundamental extensions of the second law of thermodynamics for small nonequilibrium systems. While work and heat are equally important forms of energy exchange, fluctuation relations have not been experimentally…
The last two decades has seen quantum thermodynamics become a well established field of research in its own right. In that time, it has demonstrated a remarkably broad applicability, ranging from providing foundational advances in the…
Quantum decoherence is seen as an undesired source of irreversibility that destroys quantum resources. Quantum coherences seem to be a property that vanishes at thermodynamic equilibrium. Away from equilibrium, quantum coherences challenge…
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…
Despite its intrinsic non-equilibrium origin, thermoelectricity in nanoscale systems is usually described within a static scattering approach which disregards the dynamical interaction with the thermal baths that maintain energy flow. Using…
The purpose of this work is to discuss recent progress in deriving the fundamental laws of thermodynamics (0th, 1st and 2nd-law) from nonequilibrium quantum statistical mechanics. Basic thermodynamic notions are clarified and different…
Two fundamental ingredients play a decisive role in the foundation of fluctuation relations: the principle of microreversibility and the fact that thermal equilibrium is described by the Gibbs canonical ensemble. Building on these two…