Thermodynamics of quantum systems under dynamical control

By David Gelbwaser-Klimovsky, Wolfgang Niedenzu, Gershon Kurizki. 2015

156 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this review the debated rapport between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics is addressed in the framework of the theory of periodically-driven/controlled quantum-thermodynamic machines. The basic model studied here is that of a two-level system (TLS), whose energy is periodically modulated while the system is coupled to thermal baths. When the modulation interval is short compared to the bath memory time, the system-bath correlations are affected, thereby causing cooling or heating of the TLS, depending on the interval. In steady state, a periodically-modulated TLS coupled to two distinct baths constitutes the simplest quantum heat machine (QHM) that may operate as either an engine or a refrigerator, depending on the modulation rate. We find their efficiency and power-output bounds and the conditions for attaining these bounds. An extension of this model to multilevel systems shows that the QHM power output can be boosted by the multilevel degeneracy. These results are used to scrutinize basic thermodynamic principles: (i) Externally-driven/modulated QHMs may attain the Carnot efficiency bound, but when the driving is done by a quantum device ("piston"), the efficiency strongly depends on its initial quantum state. Such dependence has been unknown thus far. (ii) The refrigeration rate effected by QHMs does not vanish as the temperature approaches absolute zero for certain quantized baths, e.g., magnons, thous challenging Nernst's unattainability principle. (iii) System-bath correlations allow more work extraction under periodic control than that expected from the Szilard-Landauer principle, provided the period is in the non-Markovian domain. Thus, dynamically-controlled QHMs may benefit from hitherto unexploited thermodynamic resources.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/969b9589a16bd8256f44291e8b0ac336870fed53

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In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

In Statistical and Nonlinear Physics

Citations in the corpus

Coherence effects in the performance of the quantum Otto heat engine (2018, background): “The focus on the description and control of small quantum systems greatly spurred the thermodynamics of quantum heat engines and refrigerators [5, 6].”
Markovian master equations for quantum thermal machines: local versus global approach (2017, background): “eld. Therefore, the dissipative terms include the external eld and the denitions introduced in the last subsection are no longer valid. To dene heat and work in the global approach, we follow Refs. [12,31,35,70,71]. To this end, we rst write the dissipator in the global master equation [cf. Eq. (23)”
Daemonic ergotropy: enhanced work extraction from quantum correlations (2016, background): “4 Indeed, the very tight link between thermodynamics and quantum entanglement 21 cries loud for the clari ﬁ cation of the role of quantum correlations as a resource for coherent thermodynamic processes and transformations.”
Quantum and Information Thermodynamics: A Unifying Framework based on Repeated Interactions (2016, methodology): “[65] Other MEs can be derived for (strong) periodic driving using Floquet theory [1,3,61] and also give rise to a consistent nonequilibrium thermodynamics [1,3,66,67].”