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Quantifying Athermality and Quantum Induced Deviations from Classical Fluctuation Relations
Zoë Holmes1, Erick Hinds Mingo1, Calvin Y-R Chen1
1Controlled Quantum Dynamics Theory Group, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BW, UK.
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
|December 8, 2020
Summary
This study explores quantum information theory to understand non-classical effects in fluctuation relations. It reveals how initial system athermality and energy supply coherence impact these relations, enhancing free energy suppression.
Area of Science:
- Quantum Information Theory
- Statistical Mechanics
- Quantum Thermodynamics
Background:
- Classical fluctuation relations govern systems in thermal equilibrium.
- Non-classical phenomena like quantum coherence and athermality can alter these relations.
- Quantum information theory provides a framework to analyze these deviations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the quantum information theoretic framework for non-classical fluctuation relations.
- To explore deviations from classical fluctuation relations due to system athermality and energy supply coherence.
- To analyze the impact of photon addition/subtraction and binomial energy states on thermodynamic quantities.
Main Methods:
- Development of Crooks-like equalities for oscillator systems in photon-added/subtracted thermal states.
- Derivation of a Jarzynski-like equality for average work extraction.
- Formulation of a Crooks-like equality for a binomial energy supply state.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated how photon addition/subtraction amplifies free energy suppression by increasing informational content.
- Derived a novel Crooks-like equality for a binomial energy supply, highlighting contributions from energy and coherence to irreversibility.
- Showcased the richer feature-set of the binomial state equality compared to previous coherent state equalities.
Conclusions:
- Quantum information theory offers a powerful lens to study non-classical thermodynamics.
- System athermality and energy supply coherence significantly influence fluctuation relations and irreversibility.
- Photon manipulation and specific energy states can be leveraged to enhance thermodynamic control and efficiency.
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