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Failure of Local Thermal Equilibrium in Quantum Friction
F Intravaia1, R O Behunin2, C Henkel3
1Max-Born-Institut, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
Physical Review Letters
|September 17, 2016
Summary
The assumption of local thermal equilibrium fails for quantum friction, underestimating drag force by 80%. This highlights the need to re-examine this approach for complex nonequilibrium quantum systems.
Area of Science:
- Non-equilibrium quantum physics
- Condensed matter physics
- Atomic and ion systems
Background:
- Recent advances in atomic and condensed matter systems drive interest in non-equilibrium physics.
- Theoretical descriptions often rely on the assumption of local thermal equilibrium for tractability.
- This assumption simplifies complex systems by applying equilibrium concepts locally.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the validity of the local thermal equilibrium assumption in non-equilibrium systems.
- To determine the impact of this assumption on the theoretical description of quantum friction.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of driven, steady-state quantum systems.
- Comparison of theoretical predictions with and without the local thermal equilibrium assumption.
Main Results:
- The local thermal equilibrium assumption significantly underestimates quantum friction drag force by approximately 80%.
- Correlations within driven quantum systems invalidate the assumption of local thermal equilibrium.
Conclusions:
- The assumption of local thermal equilibrium is not universally applicable to non-equilibrium quantum systems.
- A critical re-evaluation of this common approximation is necessary for accurately describing quantum friction and related phenomena.
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