Operational Work Fluctuation Theorem for Open Quantum Systems
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
The classical Jarzynski equality establishes an exact relation between the stochastic work performed on a system driven out of thermal equilibrium and the free energy difference in a corresponding quasistatic process. This fluctuation theorem bears experimental relevance, as it enables the determination of the free energy difference through the measurement of externally applied work in a nonequilibrium process. In the quantum case, the Jarzynski equality only holds if the measurement procedure of the stochastic work is drastically changed: it is replaced by a so-called two-point measurement scheme that requires the knowledge of the initial and final Hamiltonian and therefore lacks the predictive power for the free energy difference that the classical Jarzynski equation is known for. Here, we propose a quantum fluctuation theorem that is valid for externally measurable quantum work determined during the driving protocol. In contrast to the two-point measurement case, the theorem also applies to open quantum systems and the scenario can be realized without knowing the system Hamiltonian. Our fluctuation theorem comes in the form of an inequality and therefore only yields bounds to the true free energy difference. The inequality is saturated in the quasiclassical case of vanishing energy coherences at the beginning and at the end of the protocol. Thus, there is a clear quantum disadvantage.
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 140403 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Physical review letters |
| Volume | 134 |
| Issue number | 14 |
| Publication status | Published - 9 Apr 2025 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
| Scopus | 105002326694 |
|---|---|
| ORCID | /0000-0002-1864-4520/work/190133931 |
| ORCID | /0000-0002-7806-3525/work/190134393 |
Keywords
Keywords
- Open Quantum Systems, Fluctuation Theorem, quantum fluctuation theorem, quantum thermodynamics