Quantum mechanical interactions for realizing thermal equilibrium

Tsunehiro Kobayashi

Tsunehiro Kobayashi

Tsunehiro Kobayashi

Mauro Antezza

We will discuss the behavior of one or more elementary quantum system (atom, molecules, quantum dot, …) interacting with a stationary, simple and rich electromagnetic environment out of thermal equilibrium: The electromagnetic field is produced by a simple configuration of macroscopic objects held at thermal equilibrium at different temperatures. We will show how the internal atomic dynamics can be deeply affected by the non equilibrium configuration leading to unexpected phenomena like a spontaneous inversion of population, new cooling mechanisms obtained by heating the system, and the possibility to create and protect entanglement in a stationary and robust way. Finally, we will discuss how this system may directly allow the realization of atomic quantum thermal machines, with high efficiency and a genuine quantum behavior.

Sheldon Goldstein, Joel L. Lebowitz, Christian Mastrodonato +2 more

T.-K. Kobayashi

A quasi-static process is realized in a purely quantum-mechanical model which is described by oscillator (or particle) systems having relative-phase interactions. Time development of a mixture of two oscillator (or particle) systems which have different temperatures is investigated in the quantum mechanical framework. We study how they go to a thermal equilibrium. Time dependence of the temperature of the object is numerically studied and the difference of the time dependence between classical objects and quantum objects is clearly pointed out.