State functions play important roles in thermodynamics. Different from the process function, such as the exchanged heat $δQ$ and the applied work $δW$, the change of the state function can be expressed as an exact differential. We prove here that, for a generic thermodynamic system, only the inverse of the temperature, namely $1/T$, can serve as the integration factor for the exchanged heat $δQ$. The uniqueness of the integration factor invalidates any attempt to define other state functions associated with the exchanged heat, and in turn, reveals the incorrectness of defining the entransy $E_{vh}=C_VT^2 /2$ as a state function by treating $T$ as an integration factor. We further show the errors in the derivation of entransy by treating the heat capacity $C_V$ as a temperature-independent constant.
The statistics of the heat exchanged between two quantum XX spin chains prepared at different temperatures is studied within the assumption of weak coupling. This provides simple formulas for the average heat and its corresponding characteristic function, from which the probability distribu- tion may be computed numerically. These formulas are valid for arbitrary sizes and therefore allow us to analyze the role of the thermodynamic limit in this non-equilibrium setting. It is found that all thermodynamic quantities are extremely sensitive to the quantum phase transition of the XX chain.
We study both experimentally and theoretically the statistical properties of the energy exchanged between two electrical conductors, kept at different temperature by two different heat reservoirs, and coupled by the electric thermal noise. Such a system is ruled by the same equations as two Brownian particles kept at different temperatures and coupled by an elastic force. We measure the heat flowing between the two reservoirs, the thermodynamic work done by one part of the system on the other, and we show that these quantities exhibit a long time fluctuation theorem. Furthermore, we evaluate t…
The difference between the zero-mass limit of the heat exchanged with a thermal reservoir, and its value as determined from overdamped dynamics, is termed `heat leakage' or `hidden heat' in the Smoluchowski limit. If present, heat leakages are the sign of the unsuitability of the overdamped approximation for addressing thermodynamics. It is accepted that no hidden heat arises in an isothermal process driven by conservative forces. Here, we challenge that conclusion. The heat exchanged with a reservoir in any isothermal and quasistatic process connecting two equilibrium states, indeed exhibits …
We report an experimental and theoretical analysis of the energy exchanged between two conductors kept at different temperature and coupled by the electric thermal noise. Experimentally we determine, as functions of the temperature difference, the heat flux, the out-of- equilibrium variance and a conservation law for the fluctuating entropy, which we justify theoretically. The system is ruled by the same equations of two Brownian particles kept at different temperatures and coupled by an elastic force. Our results set strong constrains on the energy exchanged between coupled nano-systems kept …
We study the statistics of heat exchange of a quantum system that collides sequentially with an arbitrary number of ancillas. This can describe, for instance, an accelerated particle going through a bubble chamber. Unlike other approaches in the literature, our focus is on the \emph{joint} probability distribution that heat $Q_1$ is exchanged with ancilla 1, heat $Q_2$ is exchanged with ancilla 2, and so on. This allows one to address questions concerning the correlations between the collisional events. The joint distribution is found to satisfy a Fluctuation theorem of the Jarzynski-Wójcik ty…
The off-equilibrium probability distribution of the heat exchanged by a ferromagnet in a time interval after a quench below the critical point is calculated analytically in the large-N limit. The distribution is characterized by a singular threshold Qc < 0, below which a macroscopic fraction of heat is released by the k = 0 Fourier component of the order parameter. The mathematical structure producing this phenomenon is the same responsible of the order parameter condensation in the equilibrium low temperature phase. The heat exchanged by the individual Fourier modes follows a non trivial patt…
For a small driven system coupled strongly to a heat bath, internal energy and exchanged heat are identified such that they obey the usual additive form of the first law. By identifying this exchanged heat with the entropy change of the bath, the total entropy production is shown to obey an integral fluctuation theorem on the trajectory level implying the second law in the form of a Clausius inequalilty on the ensemble level. In this Hamiltonian approach, the assumption of an initially uncorrelated state is not required. The conditions under which the proposed identification of heat is unique …
Work and heat exchanged during sudden quenches of strongly coupled quantum systems
University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学帕克分校）；Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST and University of Maryland, College Park（美国国家标准与技术研究院与马里兰大学量子信息与计算联合中心）；NSF Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation, University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学国家科学基金会稳健量子模拟研究所）；Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学化学与生物化学系）；Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学物理科学与技术研究所）；Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park（马里兰大学物理系）；InQubator for Quantum Simulation (IQuS), Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle（华盛顿大学物理系量子模拟创新中心）；Center for Quantum Information and Control, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque（新墨西哥大学量子信息与控制中心）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque（新墨西哥大学物理与天文学系）
The exchange fluctuation theorem for heat exchanged between two systems at different temperatures, when kept in direct contact, has been investigated by C. Jarzynski and D. K. Wójcik, in Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 92}, 230602 (2004). We extend this result to the case where two Langevin reservoirs at different temperatures are connected via a conductor made of interacting particles, and are subjected to an external drive or work source. The Langevin reservoirs are characterized by Gaussian white noise fluctuations and concomitant friction coefficients. We first derive the Crooks theorem for the rati…
Thermodynamic quantities, like heat, entropy, or work, are random variables, in stochastic systems. Here, we investigate the statistics of the heat exchanged by a Brownian particle subjected to a logarithm-harmonic potential. We derive analytically the characteristic function and its moments for the heat. Through numerical integration, and numerical simulation, we calculate the probability distribution as well, characterizing fully the statistical behavior of the heat. The results are also investigated in the asymptotic limit, where we encounter the characteristic function in terms of hypergeo…
We study heat rectification in a minimalistic model composed of two masses subjected to on-site and coupling linear forces in contact with effective Langevin baths induced by laser interactions. Analytic expressions of the heat currents in the steady state are spelled out. Asymmetric heat transport is found in this linear system if both the bath temperatures and the temperature dependent bath-system couplings are also exchanged.
Monte Carlo simulations of Ising models coupled to heat baths at two different temperatures are used to study a fluctuation relation for the heat exchanged between the two thermostats in a time $τ$. Different kinetics (single--spin--flip or spin--exchange Kawasaki dynamics), transition rates (Glauber or Metropolis), and couplings between the system and the thermostats have been considered. In every case the fluctuation relation is verified in the large $τ$ limit, both in the disordered and in the low temperature phase. Finite-$τ$ corrections are shown to obey a scaling behavior.
We investigate the occurrence of heat leakages in overdamped Brownian harmonic systems. We exactly compute the underdamped and overdamped stochastic heats exchanged with the bath for a sudden frequency or temperature switch. We show that the underdamped heat reduces to the corresponding overdamped expression in the limit of large friction for the isothermal process. However, we establish that this is not the case for the isochoric transformation. We microscopically derive the additionally generated heat leakage and relate its origin to the initial relaxation of the velocity of the system. Our …
The non-equilibrium thermodynamics of a gas inside a piston is a conceptually simple problem where analytic results are rare. For example, it is hard to find in the literature analytic formulas that describe the heat exchanged with the reservoir when the system either relaxes to equilibrium or is compressed over a finite time. In this paper we derive such kind of analytic formulas. To achieve this result, we take the equations derived by Cerino \textit{et al.} [Phys. Rev. E \textbf{91}, 032128] describing the dynamic evolution of a gas-piston system, we cast them in a dimensionless form and we…
We point out a surprising feature of diffusion in inhomogeneous media: under suitable conditions, the rectification of the Brownian paths by a diffusivity gradient can result in initially spread tracers spontaneously concentrating. This "geometric ratchet effect" demonstrates that, in violation of the classical statements of the second law of (non-equilibrium) thermodynamics, self-organization can take place in thermodynamic systems at local equilibrium without heat being produced or exchanged with the environment. We stress the role of Bayesian priors in a suitable reformulation of the second…
The housekeeping heat is the energy exchanged between a system and its environment in a nonequilibrium process that results from the violation of detailed balance. We describe fluctuations of the housekeeping heat in mesoscopic systems using the theory of martingales, a mathematical framework widely used in probability theory and finance. We show that the exponentiated housekeeping heat (in units of $k_{\rm B}T$, with $k_{\rm B}$ the Boltzmann constant and $T$ the temperature) of a Markovian nonequilibrium process under arbitrary time-dependent driving is a martingale process. From this result…
Despite its historical importance, a perfect gas enclosed by a pistons and in contact with a thermal reservoirs is a system still largely under study. Its thermodynamic properties are not yet well understood when driven under non-equilibrium conditions. In particular, analytic formulas that describe the heat exchanged with the reservoir are rare. In this paper we prove a power series expansions for the heat when both the external force and the reservoir temperature are slowly varying over time but the overall process is not quasi-static. To do so, we use the dynamical equations from [Cerino \e…
In this paper we aim at characterizing the effect of stochastic fluctuations on the distribution of the energy exchanged by a quantum system with an external environment under sequences of quantum measurements performed at random times. Both quenched and annealed averages are considered. The information about fluctuations is encoded in the quantum-heat probability density function, or equivalently in its characteristic function, whose general expression for a quantum system with arbitrary Hamiltonian is derived. We prove that, when a stochastic protocol of measurements is applied, the quantum …
We introduce stochastic models for the transport of heat in systems described by local collisional dynamics. The dynamics consists of tracer particles moving through an array of hot scatterers describing the effect of heat baths at fixed temperatures. Those models have the structure of Markov renewal processes. We study their ergodic properties in details and provide a useful formula for the cumulant generating function of the time integrated energy current. We observe that out of thermal equilibrium, the generating function is not analytic. When the set of temperatures of the scatterers is fi…
We obtain macroscopic isothermal thermodynamic transformations by space-time scalings of a microscopic Hamiltonian dynamics in contact with a heat bath. The microscopic dynamics is given by a chain of anharmonic oscillators subject to a varying tension (external force) and the contact with the heat bath is modeled by independent Langevin dynamics acting on each particle. After a diffusive space-time scaling and cross-graining, the profile of volume converges to the solution of a deterministic diffusive equation with boundary conditions given by the applied tension. This defines an irreversible…
