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arXiv:2001.02261 · Physical review. E

von Neumann entropy and entropy production of a damped harmonic oscillator

Gabriel Artur Weiderpass, A. O. Caldeira

Published Sep 1, 2020• 14 citations
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Abstract

In this paper we analyze the entropy and entropy production of a nonisolated quantum system described within the quantum Brownian motion framework. This is a very general and paradigmatic framework for describing nonisolated quantum systems and can be used in any kind of coupling regime. We start by considering the application of von Neumann entropy to an arbitrarily damped quantum system making use of its reduced density operator. We argue that this application is formally valid and develop a path-integral method to evaluate that quantity analytically. We apply this technique to a harmonic oscillator in contact with a heat bath and obtain an exact form for its entropy. Then we study the entropy production of this system and enlighten important characteristics of its thermodynamical behavior on the pure quantum realm and also address their transition to the classical limit.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.102.032102

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In this paper we analyze the entropy and entropy production of a nonisolated quantum system described within the quantum Brownian motion framework. This is a very general and paradigmatic framework for describing nonisolated quantum systems and can be used in any kind of coupling regime. We start by considering the application of von Neumann entropy to an arbitrarily damped quantum system making use of its reduced density operator. We argue that this application is formally valid and develop a path-integral method to evaluate that quantity analytically. We apply this technique to a harmonic oscillator in contact with a heat bath and obtain an exact form for its entropy. Then we study the entropy production of this system and enlighten important characteristics of its thermodynamical behavior on the pure quantum realm and also address their transition to the classical limit.
The change of the von Neumann entropy of a set of harmonic oscillators initially in thermal equilibrium and interacting linearly with an externally driven quantum system is computed by adapting the Feynman–Vernon influence functional formalism. This quantum entropy production has the form of the expectation value of three functionals of the forward and backward paths describing the system history in the Feynman–Vernon theory. In the classical limit of Kramers–Langevin dynamics (Caldeira–Leggett model) these functionals combine to three terms, where the first is the entropy production functional of stochastic thermodynamics, the classical work done by the system on the environment in units of k B T, and the second and the third other functionals which have no analogue in stochastic thermodynamics.
We investigate how to coherently define entropy production for a process of transient relaxation in the quantum Brownian motion model for the harmonic potential. We compare a form, referred to as 'poised' (P), which after non-Markovian transients corresponds to a definition of heat as the change in the system Hamiltonian of mean force, with a recent proposal by Esposito et al (ELB) based on a definition of heat as the energy change in the bath. Both expressions yield a positive-definite entropy production and they coincide for vanishing coupling strength, but their difference is proved to be always positive (after non-Markovian transients disappear) and to grow as the coupling strength increases. In the classical over-damped limit the 'poised' entropy production converges to the entropy production used in stochastic thermodynamics. We also investigate the effects of the system size, and of the ensuing Poincaré recurrences, and how the classical limit is approached. We close by discussing the strong-coupling limit, in which the ideal canonical equilibrium of the bath is violated.
I investigate how to coherently define entropy production for a process of transient relaxation in the Quantum Brownian Motion model for the harmonic potential. I compare a form, called ``Poised" (P), which after non-Markovian transients corresponds to a definition of heat as the change in the system Hamiltonian of mean force, with a recent proposal by Esposito et al (ELB) based on a definition of heat as the energy change in the bath. Both expressions yield a positive-defined entropy production and coincide for vanishing coupling strength, but their difference is proved to be always positive (after non-Markovian transients disappear) and to grow as the coupling strength increases. In the classical over-damped limit the ``Poised" entropy production converges to the entropy production used in stochastic thermodynamics. We also investigate the effects of the system size, and of the ensuing Poincaré recurrences, and how the classical limit is approached. I close by discussing the strong-coupling limit, in which the ideal canonical equilibrium of the bath is violated.
Abstract The quantum Brownian motion model is a typical model in the study of nonequilibrium quantum thermodynamics. Entropy is one of the most fundamental physical concepts in thermodynamics. In this work, by solving the quantum Langevin equation, we study the von Neumann entropy of a particle undergoing quantum Brownian motion. We obtain the analytical expression of the time evolution of the Wigner function in terms of the initial Wigner function. The result is applied to the thermodynamic equilibrium initial state, which reproduces its classical counterpart in the high temperature limit. Based on these results, for those initial states having well-defined classical counterparts, we obtain the explicit expression of the quantum corrections to the entropy in the weak coupling limit. Moreover, we find that for the thermodynamic equilibrium initial state, all terms odd in ℏ are exactly zero. Our results bring important insights to the understanding of entropy in open quantum systems.
The von Neumann entropy of various quantum dissipative models is calculated in order to discuss the entanglement properties of these systems. First, integrable quantum dissipative models are discussed, i.e., the quantum Brownian motion and the quantum harmonic oscillator. In the case of the free particle, the related entanglement of formation shows no nonanalyticity. In the case of the dissipative harmonic oscillator, there is a nonanalyticity at the transition of underdamped to overdamped oscillations. We argue that this might be a general property of dissipative systems. We show that similar features arise in the dissipative two-level system and study different regimes using sub-Ohmic, Ohmic, and super-Ohmic baths, within a scaling approach.