Non-equilibrium quantum systems

Ross Dorner

This thesis is a study of non-equilibrium phenomena in quantum systems. Emphasis is given to the recently derived non-equilibrium fluctuation theorems, which relate the non-equilibrium response of a system to its equilibrium thermodynamic properties. We investigate the validity and importance of these theorems, from both a theoretical and experimental perspective, in systems ranging from a single atom to an ensemble of interacting particles. We also investigate the potential role of quantum dynamics in biological processes.

Sergio Cecotti

Takuya Kitagawa

From its beginning in the early 20th century, quantum theory has become progressively more important especially due to its contributions to the development of technologies. Quantum mechanics is crucial for current technology such as semiconductors, and also holds promise for future technologies such as superconductors and quantum computing. Despite of the success of quantum theory, its applications have been mostly limited to equilibrium or static systems due to 1. lack of experimental controllability of non-equilibrium quantum systems 2. lack of theoretical frameworks to understand non-equilibrium dynamics. Consequently, physicists have not yet discovered too many interesting phenomena in non-equilibrium quantum systems from both theoretical and experimental point of view and thus, non-equilibrium quantum physics did not attract too much attentions.

Oscar E. Lanford, Derek W. Robinson

Alexander I. Akhiezer, S. V. Peletminskiǐ

Zi Cai

Non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems have attracted considerable attention in the past decades. The scope of the research of this kind of novel system involves interdisciplinary research of condensed matter, atomic and molecular physics, quantum optics, quantum information and quantum computation, as well as the non-equilibrium statistical physics. The non-equilibrium phenomena emerging from the aforementioned quantum systems can exhibit rich and universal behaviors, which have far from being well understood due to the novelties and complexities of these systems, and hence the quantum many-body physics becomes the research highlight. At the same time, with the rapid development of quantum techniques, the understanding of these complex systems is of important practical significance due to their potential applications in quantum computation and quantum manipulation. In this paper, we show our recent progress of non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems. We focus on the novel phenomena closely related to the temporary symmetry breaking, including the exotic quantum matter, quasi-particles as well as the dynamical universality classes in non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems.