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arXiv:1002.2938 · Europhysics Letters (EPL)

The geometry and thermodynamics of dissipative quantum systems

Hans Christian Öttinger

Published Apr 1, 2011• 40 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Dirac's method of classical analogy is employed to include quantum degrees of freedom into a geometric framework of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The proposed formulation of dissipative quantum mechanics builds entirely upon the geometric structures implied by commutators and canonical correlations. A lucid formulation of a nonlinear quantum master equation follows from the thermodynamic structure. The approach is applicable even at very low temperatures and complex classical environments with internal structure can be handled readily.

DOI
10.1209/0295-5075/94/10006

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Dirac's method of classical analogy is employed to include quantum degrees of freedom into a geometric framework of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. The proposed formulation of dissipative quantum mechanics builds entirely upon the geometric structures implied by commutators and canonical correlations. A lucid formulation of a nonlinear quantum master equation follows from the thermodynamic structure. The approach is applicable even at very low temperatures and complex classical environments with internal structure can be handled readily.
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We develop a general theory describing the thermodynamical behavior of open quantum systems coupled to thermal baths beyond perturbation theory. Our approach is based on the exact time-local quantum master equation for the reduced open-system states, and on a principle of minimal dissipation. This principle leads to a unique prescription for the decomposition of the master equation into a Hamiltonian part representing coherent time evolution and a dissipator part describing dissipation and decoherence. Employing this decomposition we demonstrate how to define work, heat, and entropy production, formulate the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and establish the connection between violations of the second law and quantum non-Markovianity.
Abstract The theory of open quantum systems plays a fundamental role in several scientific and technological disciplines, from quantum computing and information science to molecular electronics and quantum thermodynamics. Despite its widespread relevance, a rigorous formulation of quantum dissipation in conjunction with thermal noise remains a topic of active research. In this work, we establish a formal correspondence between classical stochastic thermodynamics, in particular the Fokker–Planck and Klein–Kramers equations, and the quantum master equation. Building on prior studies of multiplicative noise in classical stochastic differential equations, we demonstrate that thermal noise at the quantum level manifests as a multidimensional geometric stochastic process. By applying canonical quantization, we introduce a novel Hermitian dissipation operator that serves as a quantum analogue of classical viscous friction. This operator allows for a well-defined expression of heat exchange between a system and its environment, enabling the formulation of an alternative quantum equipartition theorem. Our framework ensures a precise energy balance that aligns with the first law of thermodynamics and an entropy balance consistent with the second law. The theoretical formalism is applied to two prototypical quantum systems, the harmonic oscillator and a particle in an infinite potential well, for which it provides new insights into nonequilibrium thermodynamics at the quantum scale. Our results advance the understanding of dissipation in quantum systems and establish a foundation for future studies on stochastic thermodynamics in the quantum domain.
A theoretical framework for the nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of open systems is constructed. This is concerned with a formulation of a generalized master equation governing the evolution of an arbitrary system S in interaction with a ``large'' reservoir R. The dynamics of S are analyzed on the basis of a precise quantum-mechanical treatment of the microscopic equations of motion for the combined system S + R. On proceeding to the thermodynamical limit for R we obtain a generalized master equation for S, subject to specified conditions on the many-particle structure of R, its initial state, and its coupling to S. This master equation corresponds to a self-contained law of motion for S, in which the R variables appear only in the forms of certain thermal averages, taken over the initial state. This dynamical law is a generalization of the quantum-mechanical Liouville equation to a form appropriate to open systems.
We investigate the zero-temperature limit of thermodynamic quantum master equations that govern the time evolution of density matrices for dissipative quantum systems. The quantum master equations for T=0T=0T=0 and for T>0T>0T>0 possess completely different structures: (i) the equation for T=0T=0T=0 is linear in the deviation from the ground-state density matrix, whereas the equation for T>0T>0T>0, in general, is seriously nonlinear, and (ii) the Gibbs state is obtained as the steady-state solution of the nonlinear equation for T>0T>0T>0, whereas the ground state cannot be found from the equation for T=0T=0T=0. Nevertheless, the equation for T=0T=0T=0 can reproduce the behavior for $T\ensuremath{\gtrsim}0$ remarkably well. We discuss some implications of that observation for dissipative quantum field theory.
Pure quantum mechanics can be formulated as a Hamiltonian system in terms of the Liouville equation for the density matrix. Dissipative effects are modeled via coupling to a macroscopic system, where the coupling operators act via commutators. Following Öttinger (2010) we use the GENERIC framework to construct thermodynamically consistent evolution equations as a sum of a Hamiltonian and a gradient-flow contribution, which satisfy a particular non-interaction condition: We give three applications of the theory. First, we consider a finite-dimensional quantum system that is coupled to a finite number of simple heat baths, each of which is described by a scalar temperature variable. Second, we model quantum system given by a one-dimensional Schr\"odinger operator connected to a one-dimensional heat equation on the left and on the right. Finally, we consider thermo-opto-electronics, where the Maxwell-Bloch system of optics is coupled to the energy-drift-diffusion system for semiconductor electronics.