Work as an external quantum observable and an operational quantum work fluctuation theorem

Abstract

We propose a definition of externally measurable quantum work in driven systems. Work is given as a quantum observable on a control device which is forcing the system and can be determined without knowledge of the system Hamiltonian $H_{\mathcal{S}}$. We argue that quantum work fluctuation theorems which rely on the knowledge of $H_{\mathcal{S}}$ are of little practical relevance, contrary to their classical counterparts. Using our framework, we derive a fluctuation theorem which is operationally accessible and could in principle be implemented in experiments to determine bounds on free energy differences of unknown systems.