Landauer-Büttiker Approach to Strongly Coupled Quantum Thermodynamics (original) (raw)

Landauer-Büttiker Approach to Strongly Coupled Quantum Thermodynamics: Inside-Outside Duality of Entropy Evolution

Physical Review Letters

We develop a Landauer-Büttiker theory of entropy evolution in time-dependent strongly coupled electron systems. This formalism naturally avoids the problem of system-bath distinction caused by the strong hybridization of central system and surrounding reservoirs. In an adiabatic expansion up to first order beyond the quasistatic limit, it provides a clear understanding of the connection between heat and entropy currents generated by time-dependent potentials and shows their connection to the occurring dissipation. Combined with the work required to change the potential, the developed formalism provides a full thermodynamic description from an outside perspective, applicable to arbitrary non-interacting electron systems.

Quantum Thermodynamics: A Dynamical Viewpoint

Quantum thermodynamics addresses the emergence of thermodynamic laws from quantum mechanics. The viewpoint advocated is based on the intimate connection of quantum thermodynamics with the theory of open quantum systems. Quantum mechanics inserts dynamics into thermodynamics, giving a sound foundation to finite-time-thermodynamics. The emergence of the 0-law, I-law, II-law and III-law of thermodynamics from quantum considerations is presented. The emphasis is on consistency between the two theories, which address the same subject from different foundations. We claim that inconsistency is the result of faulty analysis, pointing to flaws in approximations.

Introduction to Quantum Thermodynamics: History and Prospects

Thermodynamics in the Quantum Regime, 2018

Quantum Thermodynamics is a continuous dialogue between two independent theories: Thermodynamics and Quantum Mechanics. Whenever the two theories have addressed the same phenomena new insight has emerged. We follow the dialogue from equilibrium Quantum Thermodynamics and the notion of entropy and entropy inequalities which are the base of the II-law. Dynamical considerations lead to nonequilibrium thermodynamics of quantum Open Systems. The central part played by completely positive maps is discussed leading to the Gorini-Kossakowski-Lindblad-Sudarshan "GKLS" equation. We address the connection to thermodynamics through the system-bath weak-coupling-limit WCL leading to dynamical versions of the I-law. The dialogue has developed through the analysis of quantum engines and refrigerators. Reciprocating and continuous engines are discussed. The autonomous quantum absorption refrigerator is employed to illustrate the III-law. Finally, we describe some open questions and perspectives.

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.

Landauer’s Principle in Multipartite Open Quantum System Dynamics

Physical Review Letters, 2015

We investigate the link between information and thermodynamics embodied by Landauer's principle in the open dynamics of a multipartite quantum system. Such irreversible dynamics is described in terms of a collisional model with a finite temperature reservoir. We demonstrate that Landauer's principle holds, for such a configuration, in a form that involves the flow of heat dissipated into the environment and the rate of change of the entropy of the system. Quite remarkably, such a principle for heat and entropy power can be explicitly linked to the rate of creation of correlations among the elements of the multipartite system and, in turn, the non-Markovian nature of their reduced evolution. Such features are illustrated in two exemplary cases.

The laws of thermodynamics for quantum dissipative systems: A quasi-equilibrium Helmholtz energy approach

The Journal of Chemical Physics

By using the quasi-equilibrium Helmholtz energy, which is defined as the thermodynamic work in a quasi-static process, we investigate the thermal properties of both an isothermal process and a transition process between the adiabatic and isothermal states (adiabatic transition). Here, the work is defined by the change in energy from a steady state to another state under a time-dependent perturbation. In particular, the work for a quasi-static change is regarded as thermodynamic work. We employ a system–bath model that involves time-dependent perturbations in both the system and the system–bath interaction. We conduct numerical experiments for a three-stroke heat machine (a Kelvin–Planck cycle). For this purpose, we employ the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) approach. These experiments involve an adiabatic transition field that describes the operation of an adiabatic wall between the system and the bath. Thermodynamic–work diagrams for external fields and their conjugate vari...

Many-body effects on the thermodynamics of closed quantum systems

arxiv, 2019

Thermodynamics of quantum systems out-of-equilibrium is very important for the progress of quantum technologies, however, the effects of many body interactions and their interplay with temperature, different drives and dynamical regimes is still largely unknown. Here we present a systematic study of these interplays: we consider a variety of interaction (from non-interacting to strongly correlated) and dynamical (from sudden quench to quasi-adiabatic) regimes, and draw some general conclusions in relation to work extraction and entropy production. As treatment of many-body interacting systems is highly challenging, we introduce a simple approximation which includes, for the average quantum work, many-body interactions only via the initial state, while the dynamics is fully non-interacting. We demonstrate that this simple approximation is surprisingly good for estimating both the average quantum work and the related entropy variation, even when many-body correlations are significant.

Kinetics and thermodynamics of a driven open quantum system

Physical review. E, 2017

Redfield theory provides a closed kinetic description of a quantum system in weak contact with a very dense reservoir. Landau-Zener theory does the same for a time-dependent driven system in contact with a sparse reservoir. Using a simple model, we analyze the validity of these two theories by comparing their predictions with exact numerical results. We show that despite their a priori different range of validity, these two descriptions can give rise to an identical quantum master equation. Both theories can be used for a nonequilibrium thermodynamic description, which we show is consistent with exact thermodynamic identities evaluated in the full system-reservoir space. We emphasize the importance of properly accounting for the system-reservoir interaction energy and of operating in regimes where the reservoir can be considered as close to ideal.

Quantum thermodynamics: Thermodynamics at the nanoscale

Journal of Modern Optics, 2004

A short introduction on quantum thermodynamics is given and three new topics are discussed: 1) Maximal work extraction from a finite quantum system. The thermodynamic prediction fails and a new, general result is derived, the "ergotropy". 2) In work extraction from two-temperature setups, the presence of correlations can push the effective efficiency beyond the Carnot bound. 3) In the presence of level crossing, non-slow changes may be more optimal than slow ones.