Leggett-Garg inequalities for quantum fluctuating work

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 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.