Related papers: The temperature of the quantum vacuum
We propose a quantum thermal machine composed of two nanomechanical resonators (NMR) (two membranes suspended over a trench in a substrate), placed a few $\mu$m from each other. The quantum thermodynamical cycle is powered by the Casimir…
It is commonly agreed that the electromagnetic vacuum is not empty but filled with virtual photons. This leads to effects like Lamb shift and spontaneous emission. Here we argue that if the vacuum has virtual photons it might mean that it…
The phenomenon of the finite-temperature induced quantum numbers in fermionic systems with topological defects is analyzed. We consider an ideal gas of twodimensional relativistic massive electrons in the background of a defect in the form…
A quasi-static process is realized in a purely quantum-mechanical model which is described by oscillator (or particle) systems having relative-phase interactions. Time development of a mixture of two oscillator (or particle) systems which…
We consider the scenario in which a damped three-level atom in the ladder or V configurations is coupled to a single cavity mode whose vacuum state is amplified by dint of the dynamical Casimir effect. We obtain approximate analytical…
Temporal modulation of the quantum vacuum through fast motion of a neutral body or fast changes of its optical properties is known to promote virtual into real photons, the so-called dynamical Casimir effect. Empowering modulation protocols…
Vacuum fluctuations have observable consequences, like the Casimir force appearing between two mirrors in vacuum. This force is now measured with good accuracy and agreement with theory. We discuss the meaning and consequences of these…
The quantum state of a light beam can be represented as an infinite dimensional density matrix or equivalently as a density on the plane called the Wigner function. We describe quantum tomography as an inverse statistical problem in which…
We consider the angular momentum of a harmonically trapped, noninteracting Fermi gas subject to either rotation or to an artificial gauge field. The angular momentum of the gas is shown to display oscillations as a function of the particle…
We present a detailed description of a quantum scalar field theory within a flat spacetime confined to a cavity with perfectly reflecting moving boundaries. Moreover, we establish an equivalence between this time-dependent setting and a…
The thermodynamic properties of the Boltzmann hard sphere system is discussed. It was found that zero point energy decreases with temperature so slowly that it turned out to be an almost a constant addition to the classical value. In result…
A recent experimental claim of the detection of analogue Hawking radiation in an optical system [PRL 105 (2010) 203901] has led to some controversy [PRL 107 (2011) 149401, 149402]. While this experiment strongly suggests some form of…
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…
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…
This communication concerns the structure of the electromagnetic quantum vacuum in a disclinated insulator. It is shown that a nonzero vacuum energy density appears when the rotational symmetry of a continuous insulating elastic medium is…
We predict novel phenomena in the behavior of an ultra- cold, trapped gas of fermionic atoms. We find that quantum statistics radically changes the collisional properties, spatial profile, and off-resonant light scattering properties of the…
We consider a quantum massless fermionic field in (1+1) dimensions in the case of moving boundaries. We work in the canonical approach in order to find a Hamiltonian describing the dynamics of the field. Thus, we study the statistics of…
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…
Following a recent report on experiments it has been claimed that a phonon heat transfer through a vacuum gap between two solids due to quantum fluctuations had been measured. Here we make a theoretical analyzis of this mechanism and…
We argue that the instability of Euclidean Einstein gravity is an indication that the vacuum is non perturbative and contains a condensate of the metric tensor in a manner reminiscent of Yang-Mills theories. As a simple step toward the…