Quantum work in the Bohmian framework
Sampaio, R; Suomela, S; Ala-Nissila, T; et al.Anders, J; Philbin, T
Date: 30 January 2018
Journal
Physical Review A
Publisher
American Physical Society
Publisher DOI
Abstract
At non-zero temperature classical systems exhibit statistical fluctuations of thermodynamic quantities arising
from the variation of the system’s initial conditions and its interaction with the environment. The fluctuating
work, for example, is characterised by the ensemble of system trajectories in phase space and, by including ...
At non-zero temperature classical systems exhibit statistical fluctuations of thermodynamic quantities arising
from the variation of the system’s initial conditions and its interaction with the environment. The fluctuating
work, for example, is characterised by the ensemble of system trajectories in phase space and, by including the
probabilities for various trajectories to occur, a work distribution can be constructed. However, without phase
space trajectories, the task of constructing a work probability distribution in the quantum regime has proven
elusive. Here we use quantum trajectories in phase space and define fluctuating work as power integrated along
the trajectories, in complete analogy to classical statistical physics. The resulting work probability distribution
is valid for any quantum evolution, including cases with coherences in the energy basis. We demonstrate the
quantum work probability distribution and its properties with an exactly solvable example of a driven quantum
harmonic oscillator. An important feature of the work distribution is its dependence on the initial statistical
mixture of pure states, which is reflected in higher moments of the work. The proposed approach introduces a
fundamentally different perspective on quantum thermodynamics, allowing full thermodynamic characterisation
of the dynamics of quantum systems, including the measurement process.
Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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