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

该项目的目的是研究与非平衡储层相互作用的系统的量子力学性质的两个互补方面，并研究布朗马达等纳米技术设备设计的潜在应用。这是一个跨学科的项目，位于非平衡统计物理和量子光学的边界。在项目的第一部分，我们计划阐明纠缠在量子热力学中的作用。我们想要解决的具体问题是，纠缠是否可以被认为是一种物理资源，就像在量子信息处理中一样，可以用来超越经典热力学，特别是，该项目的第二部分致力于研究量子系统远离热平衡时的退相干，表现出非遍历行为。这里的目标是研究通过故意破坏系统的遍历性来实现可控的、非指数的量子相干性损失的可能性。

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.