English

H-theorem and Maxwell Demon in Quantum Physics

Quantum Physics 2018-04-24 v2

Abstract

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that temporal evolution of an isolated system occurs with non-diminishing entropy. In quantum realm, this holds for energy-isolated systems the evolution of which is described by the so-called unital quantum channel. The entropy of a system evolving in a non-unital quantum channel can, in principle, decrease. We formulate a general criterion of unitality for the evolution of a quantum system, enabling a simple and rigorous approach for finding and identifying the processes accompanied by decreasing entropy in energy-isolated systems. We discuss two examples illustrating our findings, the quantum Maxwell demon and heating-cooling process within a two-qubit system.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1804.06886,
  title  = {H-theorem and Maxwell Demon in Quantum Physics},
  author = {N. S. Kirsanov and A. V. Lebedev and I. A. Sadovskyy and M. V. Suslov and V. M. Vinokur and G. Blatter and G. B. Lesovik},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.06886},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

7 pages, 2 figures, IV International Conference on Quantum Technologies

R2 v1 2026-06-23T01:28:01.190Z