Quasi-autonomous quantum thermal machines and quantum to classical energy flow

Abstract

There are both practical and foundational motivations to consider the thermodynamics of quantum systems at small scales. Here we address the issue of autonomous quantum thermal machines that are tailored to achieve some specific thermodynamic primitive, such as work extraction in the presence of a thermal environment, while having minimal or no control from the macroscopic regime. Beyond experimental implementations, this provides an arena in which to address certain foundational aspects such as the role of coherence in thermodynamics, the use of clock degrees of freedom and the simulation of local time-dependent Hamiltonians in a particular quantum subsystem. For small-scale systems additional issues arise. Firstly, it is not clear to what degree genuine ordered thermodynamic work has been extracted, and secondly non-trivial back-actions on the thermal machine must be accounted for. We find that both these aspects can be resolved through a judicious choice of quantum measurements that magnify thermodynamic properties up the ladder of length-scales, while simultaneously stabilizing the quantum thermal machine. Within this framework we show that thermodynamic reversibility is obtained in a particular Zeno limit, and finally illustrate these concepts with a concrete example involving spin-systems.

v2: Extended discussions, added references, fixed typos; v3: fixed references

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• Description of quantum coherence in thermodynamic processes requires constraints beyond free energy
• The Physics of Maxwell's demon and information
• Quantum coherence, time-translation symmetry and thermodynamics
• Second Law of Thermodynamics with Discrete Quantum Feedback Control
• The thermodynamic meaning of negative entropy
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• Quantum Szilard Engine
• Work measurement as a generalized quantum measurement
• The WAY theorem and the quantum resource theory of asymmetry
• The quantum-classical correspondence principle for work distributions
• Role of measurement-feedback separation in autonomous Maxwell's demons
• Reexamination of Pure Qubit Work Extraction
• 'Measurement of Quantum Mechanical Operators' Revisited
• General achievable bound of extractable work under feedback control

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• Measurement-based Formulation of Quantum Heat Engine
• Fundamental limitations on photoisomerization from thermodynamic resource theories
• An autonomous quantum machine to measure the thermodynamic arrow of time
• Energetic footprints of irreversibility in the quantum regime
• Adaptive heat engine
• Autonomous quantum machines and the finite sized Quasi-Ideal clock
• Powering an autonomous clock with quantum electromechanics
• The Coherent Crooks Equality