Quantum thermodynamical work beyond the Markovian limit

Felix C. Binder, Luis Alfonso Correa, Christian Gogolin +2 more

Sina Hamedani Raja, Massimo Borrelli, Rebecca Schmidt +2 more

The exploitation and characterization of memory effects arising from the interaction between system and environment is a key prerequisite for quantum reservoir engineering beyond the standard Markovian limit. In this paper we investigate a prototype of non-Markovian dynamics experimentally implementable with superconducting qubits. We rigorously quantify non-Markovianity, highlighting the effects of the environmental temperature on the Markovian to non-Markovian crossover. We investigate how memory effects influence, and specifically suppress, the ability to perform work on the driven qubit. We show that the average work performed on the qubit can be used as a diagnostic tool to detect the presence or absence of memory effects.

Patrick P. Potts, Alex Arash Sand Kalaee, A. Wacker

Abstract Markovian master equations provide a versatile tool for describing open quantum systems when memory effects of the environment may be neglected. As these equations are of an approximate nature, they often do not respect the laws of thermodynamics when no secular approximation is performed in their derivation. Here we introduce a Markovian master equation that is thermodynamically consistent and provides an accurate description whenever memory effects can be neglected. The thermodynamic consistency is obtained through a rescaled Hamiltonian for the thermodynamic bookkeeping, exploiting the fact that a Markovian description implies a limited resolution for heat. Our results enable a thermodynamically consistent description of a variety of systems where the secular approximation breaks down.

T. Jahnke, J. Birjukov, G. Mahler

Obinna Abah, M Paternostro

The understanding of memory effects arising from the interaction between system and environment is a key for engineering quantum thermodynamic devices beyond the standard Markovian limit. We study the performance of measurement-based thermal machine whose working medium dynamics is subject to backflow of information from the reservoir via collision based model. In this study, the non-Markovian effect is introduced by allowing for additional unitary interactions between the environments. We present two strategies of realizing non-Markovian dynamics and study their influence on the performance of the engine. Moreover, the role of system-environment memory effects on the engine work extraction and information gain through measurement can be beneficial in short time.

Gershon Kurizki, Nilakantha Meher, Avijit Misra +2 more