Unified approach to stochastic thermodynamics: Application to a quantum heat engine (original) (raw)

Stochastic thermodynamics of a finite quantum system coupled to a heat bath

2021

We consider a situation where an N-level system (NLS) is coupled to a heat bath without being necessarily thermalized. For this situation, we derive general Jarzynski-type equations and conclude that heat and entropy is flowing from the hot bath to the cold NLS and, vice versa, from the hot NLS to the cold bath. The Clausius relation between increase of entropy and transfer of heat divided by a suitable temperature assumes the form of two inequalities which have already been considered in the literature. Our approach is illustrated by an analytical example.

Stochastic Thermodynamics in a Non-Markovian Dynamical System

2022

The developing field of stochastic thermodynamics extends concepts of macroscopic thermodynamics such as entropy production and work to the microscopic level of individual trajectories taken by a system through phase space. The scheme involves coupling the system to an environment typically a source of Markovian noise that affects the dynamics of the system. Here we extend this framework to consider a non-Markovian environment, one whose dynamics have memory and which create additional correlations with the system variables, and illustrate this with a selection of simple examples. Such an environment produces a rich variety of behaviours. In particular, for a case of thermal relaxation, the distributions of entropy produced under the non-Markovian dynamics differ from the equivalent case of Markovian dynamics only by a delay time. When a time-dependent external work protocol is turned on, the system’s correlations with the environment can either assist or hinder its approach to equi...

Probabilistically Violating the First Law of Thermodynamics in a Quantum Heat Engine

arXiv: Quantum Physics, 2021

Fluctuations of thermodynamic observables, such as heat and work, contain relevant information on the underlying physical process. These fluctuations are however not taken into account in the traditional laws of thermodynamics. While the second law is extended to fluctuating systems by the celebrated fluctuation theorems, the first law is generally believed to hold even in the presence of fluctuations. Here we show that in the presence of quantum fluctuations, also the first law of thermodynamics may break down. This happens because quantum mechanics imposes constraints on the knowledge of heat and work. To illustrate our results, we provide a detailed case-study of work and heat fluctuations in a quantum heat engine based on a circuit QED architecture. We find probabilistic violations of the first law and show that they are closely connected to quantum signatures related to negative quasi-probabilities. Our results imply that in the presence of quantum fluctuations, the first law o...

The Model of Quantum Thermodynamics From the First Principles: Quantum Halo or Small Environment

arXiv: Quantum Physics, 2020

The evolution of the joint system (JS) - ``quantum system (QS)+thermal bath (TB)" is considered in the framework of a complex probabilistic processes that satisfies the stochastic differential equation of the Langevin-Schrodinger type. Two linearly coupled oscillators that randomly interact with the environment and with each other are selected as QS. In the case when the interactions obey the law of a white random process, all the construction of the statistical parameters of the QS and its environment are performed analytically in the form of double integrals and solutions of second-order partial differential equations. Expressions of time-dependent von Neumann entropy and its generalization are obtained, taking into account the self-organization and entanglement processes occurring in the JS. It is mathematically proved that as a result of the relaxation of JS in the TB, a small quantized environment is formed, which can be interpreted as a continuation of QS or its halo. Bel...

Perspective on quantum thermodynamics

2016

Classical thermodynamics is unrivalled in its range of applications and relevance to everyday life. It enables a description of complex systems,made up ofmicroscopic particles, in terms of a small number ofmacroscopic quantities, such aswork and entropy. As systems get ever smaller, fluctuations of these quantities become increasingly relevant, prompting the development of stochastic thermodynamics. Recently we have seen a surge of interest in exploring the quantum regime, where the origin offluctuations is quantum rather than thermal.Many questions, such as the role of entanglement and the emergence of thermalisation, lie wide open. Answering these questionsmay lead to the development of quantumheat engines and refrigerators, as well as to vitally needed simple descriptions of quantummany-body systems.