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Weighted detailed balance and local KMS condition for non-equilibrium stationary states

Luigi Accardi, Franco Fagnola, Roberto B. Quezada

Published Jan 1, 2011• 8 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We give a general definition of the local KMS condition and we prove its equivalence with a nonlinear Gibbs prescription. We discuss the irreversible $(H, \beta)$-KMS condition, its connections with the local KMS condition and we study the irreversible $(H, \beta)$-KMS condition for Markov generators of stochastic limit type. We introduce a definition of weighted detailed balance based on the notion of current decomposition and discuss invariant states with constant micro--currents. As an example, we construct a non-equilibrium steady state for a quantum spin chain coupled to two reservoirs at different temperatures and study its cycle dynamics and entropy production.

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We give a general definition of the local KMS condition and we prove its equivalence with a nonlinear Gibbs prescription. We discuss the irreversible (H,β)(H, \beta)(H,β)-KMS condition, its connections with the local KMS condition and we study the irreversible (H,β)(H, \beta)(H,β)-KMS condition for Markov generators of stochastic limit type. We introduce a definition of weighted detailed balance based on the notion of current decomposition and discuss invariant states with constant micro--currents. As an example, we construct a non-equilibrium steady state for a quantum spin chain coupled to two reservoirs at different temperatures and study its cycle dynamics and entropy production.
The principle of detailed balance is at the basis of equilibrium physics and is equivalent to the Kubo–Martin–Schwinger (KMS) condition (under quite general assumptions). In the present paper we prove that a large class of non-equilibrium quantum systems satisfies a dynamical generalization of the detailed balance condition (dynamical detailed balance) expressing the fact that all the micro-currents, associated to the Bohr frequencies are constant. The usual (equilibrium) detailed balance condition is characterized by the property that this constant is identically zero. From this we deduce a simple and experimentally measurable relation expressing the microcurrent associated to a transition between two levels ∊m→∊n as a linear combination of the occupation probabilities of the two levels, with coefficients given by the generalized susceptivities (transport coefficients). We then give a second characterization of the dynamical detailed balance condition using a master equation rather than the microcurrents. Finally we show that these two conditions are equivalent to a "local" generalization of the usual KMS condition. Summing up: rather than postulating some ansatz on the basis of phenomenological models or of numerical simulations, we deduce, directly in the quantum domain and from fundamental principles, some natural and simple non equilibrium generalizations of the three main characterizations of equilibrium states. Then we prove that these three, apparently very far, conditions are equivalent. These facts support our convinction that these three equivalent conditions capture a universal aspect of non equilibrium phenomena.
An invariant state of a quantum Markov semigroup is an equilibrium state if it satisfies a quantum detailed balance condition. In this paper, we introduce a notion of entropy production for faithful normal invariant states of a quantum Markov semigroup on B(h) as a numerical index measuring "how much far" they are from equilibrium. The entropy production is defined as the derivative of the relative entropy of the one-step forward and backward evolution in analogy with the classical probabilistic concept. We prove an explicit trace formula expressing the entropy production in terms of the completely positive part of the generator of a norm continuous quantum Markov semigroup showing that it turns out to be zero if and only if a standard quantum detailed balance condition holds.
A kinetic one-dimensional Ising model is coupled to two heat baths, such that spins at even (odd) lattice sites experience a temperature T e ( T o ). Spin-flips occur with Glauber-type rates generalized to the case of two temperatures. Driven by the temperature differential, the spin chain settles into a non-equilibrium steady state which corresponds to the stationary solution of a master equation. We construct a perturbation expansion of this master equation in terms of the temperature difference and compute explicitly the first two corrections to the equilibrium Boltzmann distribution. The key result is the emergence of additional spin operators in the steady state, increasing in spatial range and order of spin products. We comment on the violation of detailed balance and entropy production in the steady state.
We present a systematic thermodynamic analysis of nonsecular GKLS master equations. When some energy transitions in the system are comparable with the dissipative rate, the secular approximation is not valid, and the positivity of the dynamics must be ensured via other approximations. The dynamics then presents features reminiscent from strong coupling to the environment: e.g. the equilibrium state with an environment at thermal equilibrium is not a Gibbs state of the local system Hamiltonian and the dynamics couples energy coherences and populations. Nonetheless, we build a unified, consistent thermodynamic framework for those dynamics. We focus on two approximations beyond the full secular approximation (the local and the more accurate geometric-arithmetic approximations), and then employ systematic perturbation theory on microscopic expressions for the first and second law of thermodynamics which relate irreversibility to the increase of system-environment correlations. We show that, in spite of the weak system-bath coupling, the system-bath interaction energy participates to the energy balance, and is directly linked to the Lamb-shift Hamiltonian. We compare this microscopic entropy production with the definition based on the contractivity of the reduced system dynamics (Spohn inequality). We show that, unlike for secular master equations, the two entropy production rates differ because of the presence of non-vanishing stationary coherences in the energy eigenbasis. However, in the case of a single thermal bath, the difference is purely transient, and no work can be cyclically extracted from the steady-state despite its non-Gibbs form. Finally, we illustrate our results with simple examples, clarifying and completing the thermodynamic picture of Markovian dynamics in the quantum regime.
We give an explicit entropy production formula for a class of quantum Markov semigroups, arising in the weak coupling limit of a system coupled with reservoirs, whose generators [Formula: see text] are sums of other generators [Formula: see text] associated with positive Bohr frequencies [Formula: see text] of the system. As a consequence, we show that any such semigroup satisfies the quantum detailed balance condition with respect to an invariant state if and only if all semigroups generated by each [Formula: see text] do so with respect to the same invariant state.