Quantum Thermodynamics away from Equilibrium: Entanglement, Brownian Motors and Nonergodicity

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The aim of the project is to investigate two complementary aspects of the quantum-mechanical properties of systems interacting with nonequilibrium reservoirs and to examine the potential applications for the design of nanotechnological devices such as Brownian motors. This is an interdisciplinary project that lies at the borderline of out-of-equilibrium statistical physics and quantum optics.In the first part of the project, we plan to elucidate the role of entanglement in quantum thermodynamics. The specific question we want to address is whether entanglement can be considered a physical resource, like in quantum information processing, that can be used to go beyond classical thermodynamics, in particular, whether it can purposefully be used to obtain larger quantum efficiencies of heat engines.The second part of the project is devoted to the study of decoherence in cases where the quantum system is far from thermal equilibrium and exhibits nonergodic behavior. The goal here is to study the possibility of achieving controllable, nonexponential loss of quantum coherence by deliberately breaking the ergodicity of the system.