Local energy assignment for two interacting quantum thermal reservoirs
arXiv:2510.06929 · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/ae24a0
Abstract
Understanding how to assign internal energy, heat, and work in quantum systems beyond weak coupling remains a central problem in quantum thermodynamics, particularly as the difference between competing definitions becomes increasingly relevant. We identify two common sets of definitions for first-law quantities that are used to describe the thermodynamics of quantum systems coupled to thermal environments. Both are conceptually non-symmetric, treating one part of the bipartition (the "system") differently from the other (the "bath"). We analyze these in a setting where such roles are not easily assigned - two large (but finite) sets of thermal harmonic oscillators interacting with each other. We further compare them with a third set of definitions based on a local, conceptually symmetric open-system approach ("minimal dissipation") and discuss their quantitative and structural differences. In particular, we observe that all three sets of definitions differ substantially even when the two subsystems are weakly coupled and far detuned, and that the minimal dissipation approach features distinct work peaks that increase with the coupling strength.
25+5 pages, 10 figures
References in corpus (37)
- Quantum Thermodynamics
- Entropy production as correlation between system and reservoir
- Irreversible entropy production, from quantum to classical
- Canonical form of master equations and characterization of non-Markovianity
- Quantum and Information Thermodynamics: A Unifying Framework based on Repeated Interactions
- Quantum Adiabatic Markovian Master Equations
- Coupled quantized mechanical oscillators
- Foundations and Measures of Quantum Non-Markovianity
- Nonequilibrium entropy production for open quantum systems
- {\it Colloquium:} Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics at Strong Coupling: Quantum and Classical
- The thermodynamic cost of driving quantum systems by their boundaries
- On the nature of heat in strongly coupled open quantum systems
- Strong Coupling Thermodynamics of Open Quantum Systems
- Thermodynamics of weakly coherent collisional models
- Non-Markovianity and negative entropy production rates
- Quantum Heat Current under Non-perturbative and Non-Markovian Conditions: Applications to Heat Machines
- Dynamics and thermodynamics of linear quantum open systems
- Local effective dynamics of quantum systems: A generalized approach to work and heat
- Correlations in quantum thermodynamics: Heat, work, and entropy production
- Quantum heat statistics with time-evolving matrix product operators
- Entropy production and non-Markovian dynamical maps
- Entropy-Based Formulation of Thermodynamics in Arbitrary Quantum Evolution
- Open-system approach to nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics at arbitrary coupling
- Entropy Production in Quantum Brownian Motion
- Entropy production and correlations in a controlled non-Markovian setting
- Using the Environment to Understand non-Markovian Open Quantum Systems
- Extending the laws of thermodynamics for arbitrary autonomous quantum systems
- A canonical Hamiltonian for open quantum systems
- Thermodynamics of decoherence
- Driven quantum harmonic oscillators: A working medium for thermal machines
- Coupled Harmonic Systems as Quantum Buses in Thermal Environments
- Thermodynamic Roles of Quantum Environments: From Heat Baths to Work Reservoirs
- Synchronization-induced violation of thermodynamic uncertainty relations
- Pseudomode treatment of strong-coupling quantum thermodynamics
- Work, Heat and Internal Energy in Open Quantum Systems: A Comparison of Four Approaches from the Autonomous System Framework
- Local and global approaches to the thermodynamics of pure decoherence processes in open quantum systems
- Energy additivity as a requirement for universal quantum thermodynamical frameworks