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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Generation and Coherent Control of Pulsed Quantum Frequency Combs
Published on: June 8, 2018
Fluctuation theorems for quantum master equations
Massimiliano Esposito1, Shaul Mukamel
1Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
Abstract:
A quantum fluctuation theorem for a driven quantum subsystem interacting with its environment is derived based solely on the assumption that its reduced density matrix obeys a closed evolution equation--i.e., a quantum master equation (QME). Quantum trajectories and their associated entropy, heat, and work appear naturally by transforming the QME to a time-dependent Liouville space basis that diagonalizes the instantaneous reduced density matrix of the subsystem. A quantum integral fluctuation theorem, a steady-state fluctuation theorem, and the Jarzynski relation are derived in a similar way as for classical stochastic dynamics.
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