By-passing fluctuation theorems
- Boes, Paul ORCID Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
- Gallego, Rodrigo Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
- Ng, Nelly H. Y. ORCID Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
- Eisert, Jens ORCID Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
- Wilming, Henrik ORCID Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
- 2020-2-20
Published in:
- Quantum. - Verein zur Forderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften. - 2020, vol. 4, p. 231
English
Fluctuation theorems impose constraints on possible work extraction probabilities in thermodynamical processes. These constraints are stronger than the usual second law, which is concerned only with average values. Here, we show that such constraints, expressed in the form of the Jarzysnki equality, can be by-passed if one allows for the use of catalysts---additional degrees of freedom that may become correlated with the system from which work is extracted, but whose reduced state remains unchanged so that they can be re-used. This violation can be achieved both for small systems but also for macroscopic many-body systems, and leads to positive work extraction per particle with finite probability from macroscopic states in equilibrium. In addition to studying such violations for a single system, we also discuss the scenario in which many parties use the same catalyst to induce local transitions. We show that there exist catalytic processes that lead to highly correlated work distributions, expected to have implications for stochastic and quantum thermodynamics.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- gold
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.22331/q-2020-02-20-231
- ISSN 2521-327X
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/234464
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