Fundamentals of quantum thermodynamics
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Sch of Mathematical Sciences
Abstract
Recently, quantum thermodynamics has been formulated as a resource theory, in which free operations are so-called thermal operations, i.e. energy-conserving reversible operations and local thermalisation at a fixed temperature. A basic question is then whether a given (nonequilibrium) state can be transformed into another state under thermal operations. While partial answers to this question led to important advances such as the notion of deterministic work, quantum generalisations of the second law of thermodynamics, and the more general development of fluctuation relations, the question is still open for states with quantum coherence in the Hamiltonian basis, beyond the case of a single qubit. This project will investigate this open question and related topics dealing with thermodynamic processes and state manipulations in the fully quantum regime. This will require developing a framework to link the resource theories of informational nonequilibrium in thermodynamics and of quantum coherence. More generally, this project may explore to what extent (i.e. under which resource-theoretic constraints) quantum thermodynamics can be bridged with conventional macroscopic thermodynamics, in which the description of resources is very different, as systems are characterised by macroscopic observables like pressure and volume. A suitable question would be to find a consistent definition of temperature for quantum processes, and to validate the microscopic descriptions of relevant open quantum system dynamics.
Organisations
Publications
Morris B
(2018)
Quantum coherence fluctuation relations
in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical
Morris B
(2019)
Assisted Work Distillation.
in Physical review letters
Correa LA
(2019)
Pushing the limits of the reaction-coordinate mapping.
in The Journal of chemical physics
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
EP/N50970X/1 | 30/09/2016 | 29/09/2021 | |||
1946595 | Studentship | EP/N50970X/1 | 30/09/2017 | 09/12/2020 | Benjamin Morris |
Description | In general we have looked at the fundamentals of thermodynamics, what an information theoretic foundation may look like and the apparent consequences of quantum mechanics on such a foundation. We have discovered that because of a mathematical relation, certain quantum features behave in a similar way to thermodynamic ones. We have looked at the role of entanglement (quantum information sharing) in an information theoretic formulation of thermodynamics and we have looked at the role of representation theory may have in thermodynamics. |
Exploitation Route | Work lead to published papers which other scientists have since based their work on. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Energy |
URL | https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=D32jSnAAAAAJ&hl=en |
Description | For the majority of published papers I have created a blog post https://quantarei.wordpress.com/ In addition I have given outreach talks based on my work. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Energy |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |