Leggett-Garg inequalities for quantum fluctuating work
Miller, H; Anders, J
Date: 16 March 2018
Journal
Entropy
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The Leggett-Garg inequalities serve to test whether or not quantum correlations in time can be explained
within a classical macrorealistic framework. We apply this test to thermodynamics and derive a set of LeggettGarg
inequalities for the statistics of fluctuating work done on a quantum system unitarily driven in time. It
is shown ...
The Leggett-Garg inequalities serve to test whether or not quantum correlations in time can be explained
within a classical macrorealistic framework. We apply this test to thermodynamics and derive a set of LeggettGarg
inequalities for the statistics of fluctuating work done on a quantum system unitarily driven in time. It
is shown that these inequalities can be violated in a driven two-level system, thereby demonstrating that there
exists no general macrorealistic description of quantum work. These violations are shown to emerge within the
standard Two-Projective-Measurement scheme as well as for alternative definitions of fluctuating work that are
based on weak measurement. Our results elucidate the influences of temporal correlations on work extraction
in the quantum regime and highlight a key difference between quantum and classical thermodynamics.
Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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