Macroscopic realism of quantum work fluctuations

Abstract

We study the fluctuations of the work performed on a driven quantum system, defined as the difference between subsequent measurements of energy eigenvalues. These work fluctuations are governed by statistical theorems with similar expressions in classical and quantum physics. In this article we show that we can distinguish quantum and classical work fluctuations, as the latter can be described by a macrorealistic theory and hence obey Leggett-Garg inequalities. We show that these inequalities are violated by quantum processes in a driven two-level system and in a harmonic oscillator subject to a squeezing transformation.

7 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Fluctuation theorems: Work is not an observable
• Non-equilibrium quantum fluctuations of work
• Fluctuation theorems for continuously monitored quantum fluxes
• Quantum Performance of Thermal Machines over Many Cycles
• Influence of measurements on the statistics of work performed on a quantum system

Cited by in corpus (8)

• {\it Colloquium:} Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics at Strong Coupling: Quantum and Classical
• Work fluctuations in slow processes: quantum signatures and optimal control
• Fluctuating work in coherent quantum systems: proposals and limitations
• Revealing the strokes of autonomous quantum heat engines with work and heat fluctuations
• Semiclassical approach to the work distribution
• Leggett-Garg inequalities for quantum fluctuating work
• Statistics of work done in degenerate parametric amplification process
• Quantum work fluctuations versus macrorealism in terms of non-extensive entropies