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Physical Review E

Comment on “Similarity between quantum mechanics and thermodynamics: Entropy, temperature, and Carnot cycle”

L. A. González-Díaz, S. Díaz-Solórzano

Published May 26, 2015• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In the paper by Abe and Okuyama [Phys. Rev. E 83, 021121 (2011)], the quantum Carnot cycle of a simple two-state model of a particle confined in a one-dimensional infinite potential well is discussed. It is claimed that the state at the beginning of the quantum Carnot cycle is pure. After that, it is apparently transmuted to a mixed state if Clausius equality is imposed. We prove that this statement is incorrect. In particular, we prove that the state at the beginning of the cycle is mixed due to the process of measuring energy.

DOI
10.1103/physreve.91.056101

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In their Comment on the paper [Abe and Okuyama, Phys. Rev. E 83, 021121 (2011)], González-Díaz and Díaz-Solórzano discuss that the initial state of the quantum-mechanical analog of the Carnot cycle should be not in a pure state but in a mixed state due to a projective measurement of the system energy. Here, first the Comment is shown to miss the point. Then, second, multiple projective measurements are discussed as a generalization of the Comment, although they are not relevant to the work commented.

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In the paper by Abe and Okuyama [Phys. Rev. E 83, 021121 (2011)], the quantum Carnot cycle of a simple two-state model of a particle confined in a one-dimensional infinite potential well is discussed. It is claimed that the state at the beginning of the quantum Carnot cycle is pure. After that, it is apparently transmuted to a mixed state if Clausius equality is imposed. We prove that this statement is incorrect. In particular, we prove that the state at the beginning of the cycle is mixed due to the process of measuring energy.
In their Comment on the paper [Abe and Okuyama, Phys. Rev. E 83, 021121 (2011)], González-Díaz and Díaz-Solórzano discuss that the initial state of the quantum-mechanical analog of the Carnot cycle should be not in a pure state but in a mixed state due to a projective measurement of the system energy. Here, first the Comment is shown to miss the point. Then, second, multiple projective measurements are discussed as a generalization of the Comment, although they are not relevant to the work commented.
The similarity between quantum mechanics and thermodynamics is discussed. It is found that if the Clausius equality is imposed on the Shannon entropy and the analog of the quantity of heat, then the value of the Shannon entropy comes to formally coincide with that of the von Neumann entropy of the canonical density matrix, and pure-state quantum mechanics apparently transmutes into quantum thermodynamics. The corresponding quantum Carnot cycle of a simple two-state model of a particle confined in a one-dimensional infinite potential well is studied, and its efficiency is shown to be identical to the classical one.
In a previous note (1) we argue that the entropy for a pure quantum bound state is given by S=Sx+Sp where Sx = -k{ Integral dx Wn(x)Wn(x)ln(WnWn) + Integral dp an(p)an(p) ln(an an) }. It was shown that for any energy level pure bound state for the case of a particle in a box with an infinite potential or for an oscillator S does not depend on the parameters L (length of box) or k (spring constant) or m (mass). Thus a quantum adiabatic change of the parameter leaving the particle in the same quantum state leads to no change in entropy. In (2) a two level quantum Carnot cycle is considered for a particle in a box with an infinite potential. Energy levels n=0 and n=1 are considered.. The wavefunction is a(1)W1(x) + a(2)W2(x). Shannon’s entropy is used namely S=-k Sum over n an(an) ln{|an an|} ((1)) and an expression is found linking an*an to L and T (temperature) for a particle in a box with infinite potential walls. A Carnot cycle with two isotherms and two adiabatic dS=0 parts is considered. No consideration is given to the internal entropy of a bound state eigenstate. In this note we try to show how the overall entropy changes if the internal bound energy eigenfuntion entropy ((1)) is considered and also show how an*an(T,L) changes. We find that a1*a1 changes as do the overall values of Q (heat) and W(work) for the Carnot cycle, but that the efficiency does not.
In (1) a thermodynamical-statistical mechanical approach is presented for a two energy level quantum system for a particle in a box with infinite potential walls. It is shown that classical statistical mechanical efficiency of a Carnot cycle 1- Tc/Th holds for this quantum system. In this note we argue that the Carnot cycle efficiency holds in general if one uses delta E = delta Q - delta Work with delta Q/T = delta S if E and S are state variables as they are. One does not need to perform the two energy level specific integrals presented in (1) because the Carnot efficiency result is guaranteed for any number of energy levels.
A cyclic thermodynamic heat engine,which combines adiabatic and isothermal processes and consists of classical ideal gas as working substance,runs most efficiently if it is reversible.In this paper,A new cyclic model of quantum Carnot heat engine whose working substance consists of non-interacting extreme relativistic particles confined to an infinite potential well,is set up.It is shown that the engine whose cycle consists of adiabatic and isothermal quantum processes are close analogues of the corresponding classical processes and that the efficiency of this engine is equal to the Carnot efficiency because quantum dynamics is reversible.Consequently,the expectation value of the Hamiltonian in the expression of the efficiency is similar to the temperature in that of the classical one.
A quantum-mechanical analog of the Carnot engine reversibly working at vanishing temperature, shortly termed the quantum-mechanical Carnot engine, is discussed. A general formula for the efficiency of such an engine with an arbitrary confining potential is presented. Its expression is purely given in terms of the structure of the energy spectrum. Dependency of the efficiency on the form of a potential as an analog of the working material in thermodynamics implies nonuniversality of the engine. This may be due to the absence of the second-law-like principle in pure-state quantum mechanics.