Quantum thermodynamics is the study of the relations between two independent physical theories: thermodynamics and quantum mechanics. The two independent theories address the physical phenomena of light and matter.
In 1905, Albert Einstein argued that the requirement of consistency between thermodynamics and electromagnetism leads to the conclusion that light is quantized obtaining the relation . This paper is the dawn of quantum theory. In a few decades
quantum theory became established with an independent set of rules. Currently quantum thermodynamics addresses the emergence of thermodynamic laws from quantum mechanics.
It differs from quantum statistical mechanics in the emphasis on dynamical processes out of equilibrium.
In addition, there is a quest for the theory to be relevant for a single individual quantum system.
There is an 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 main assumption is that the entire world is a large closed system, and therefore, time evolution
is governed by a unitary transformation generated by a global Hamiltonian. For the combined system
bath scenario, the global Hamiltonian can be decomposed into:
where is the system Hamiltonian, is the bath Hamiltonian and is the system-bath interaction.
The state of the system is obtained from a partial trace over the combined system and bath:
Reduced dynamics is an equivalent description of the system dynamics utilizing only system operators.
Assuming Markov property for the dynamics the basic equation of motion for an open quantum system is the Lindblad equation (GKLS):
is a (Hermitian) Hamiltonian part and :
is the dissipative part describing implicitly through system operators the influence of the bath on the system.
The Markov property imposes
that the system and bath are uncorrelated at all times .
The L-GKS equation is unidirectional and leads any initial state to a steady state solution which is an invariant of the equation of motion .
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimental tools to probe these phenomena. The advancement of science generally depends on the interplay between experimental studies and theory. In some cases, theoretical physics adheres to standards of mathematical rigour while giving little weight to experiments and observations.
The second law of thermodynamics is a physical law based on universal experience concerning heat and energy interconversions. One simple statement of the law is that heat always moves from hotter objects to colder objects (or "downhill"), unless energy in some form is supplied to reverse the direction of heat flow. Another definition is: "Not all heat energy can be converted into work in a cyclic process." The second law of thermodynamics in other versions establishes the concept of entropy as a physical property of a thermodynamic system.
In thermodynamics, an adiabatic process (Greek: adiábatos, "impassable") is a type of thermodynamic process that occurs without transferring heat or mass between the thermodynamic system and its environment. Unlike an isothermal process, an adiabatic process transfers energy to the surroundings only as work. As a key concept in thermodynamics, the adiabatic process supports the theory that explains the first law of thermodynamics. Some chemical and physical processes occur too rapidly for energy to enter or leave the system as heat, allowing a convenient "adiabatic approximation".
This course presents an introduction to statistical mechanics geared towards materials scientists. The concepts of macroscopic thermodynamics will be related to a microscopic picture and a statistical
This course will be on Electronic Laboratory Notebooks and is aimed at (future) users. Multiple electronic lab notebooks exists. The course will focus on the Cheminfo tools (https://eln.epfl.ch/).
This course provides an overview of relevant interactions in liquids, combining thermodynamics, statistical physics and pair potetnials. Water and aqueos systm,es will be considered in detail. Optical
The concept of soliton gas was introduced in 1971 by Zakharov as an infinite collection of weakly interacting solitons in the framework of Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation. In this theoretical construction of a diluted (rarefied) soliton gas, solitons with ...
We propose a practical implementation of a two-qubit entanglement engine which denotes a scheme to generate quantum correlations through purely dissipative processes. On a diamond platform, the electron spin transitions of two nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers ...
This thesis reports on the realization of the first experiments conducted with superfluid, strongly interacting Fermi gases of 6Li coupled to the light field of an optical cavity. In the scope of existing ultracold atomic platforms, this is the first time ...