Search results for "statistical mechanic"
showing 10 items of 707 documents
Fluctuation theorems for non-Markovian quantum processes
2013
Exploiting previous results on Markovian dynamics and fluctuation theorems, we study the consequences of memory effects on single realizations of nonequilibrium processes within an open system approach. The entropy production along single trajectories for forward and backward processes is obtained with the help of a recently proposed classical-like non-Markovian stochastic unravelling, which is demonstrated to lead to a correction of the standard entropic fluctuation theorem. This correction is interpreted as resulting from the interplay between the information extracted from the system through measurements and the flow of information from the environment to the open system: Due to memory e…
Lévy flights in an infinite potential well as a hypersingular Fredholm problem.
2016
We study L\'evy flights {{with arbitrary index $0< \mu \leq 2$}} inside a potential well of infinite depth. Such problem appears in many physical systems ranging from stochastic interfaces to fracture dynamics and multifractality in disordered quantum systems. The major technical tool is a transformation of the eigenvalue problem for initial fractional Schr\"odinger equation into that for Fredholm integral equation with hypersingular kernel. The latter equation is then solved by means of expansion over the complete set of orthogonal functions in the domain $D$, reducing the problem to the spectrum of a matrix of infinite dimensions. The eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are then obtained numer…
Nonequilibrium dynamics of nonconservative diffusion processes
2023
Fokker-Planck operators of diffusion processes with nonconservative drift fields, in dimension $N\geq 2$, can be directly related with non-Hermitian electromagnetic-type Hamiltonian generators of motion. The induced nonequilibrium dynamics of probability densities points towards an issue of path integral solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation, and calls for revisiting links between known exact path integral formulas for quantum propagators in real and Euclidean time, with these for Fokker-Planck-induced transition probability density functions. In below we shall follow the $N=3$ "magnetic thread", within which one encounters formally and conceptually distinct implementations of the magneti…
Extracting work from random collisions: A model of a quantum heat engine
2022
We study the statistical distribution of the ergotropy and of the efficiency of a single-qubit battery ad of a single-qubit Otto engine, respectively fuelled by random collisions. The single qubit, our working fluid, is assumed to exchange energy with two reservoirs, a non-equilibrium "hot" reservoir and a zero temperature cold reservoir. The interactions between the qubit and the reservoirs is described in terms of a collision model of open system dynamics. The qubit interacts with the non-equilibrium reservoir (a large ensemble of qudits all prepared in the same pure state) via random unitary collisions and with the cold reservoir (a large ensemble of qubits in their ground state) via a p…
Classical nature of ordered phases: origin of spontaneous symmetry breaking
2014
We investigate the nature of spontaneous symmetry breaking in complex quantum systems by conjecturing that the maximally symmetry breaking quantum ground states are the most classical ones corresponding to an ordered phase. We make this argument quantitatively precise by showing that the ground states which realize the maximum breaking of the Hamiltonian symmetries are the only ones that: I) are always locally convertible, i.e. can be obtained from all other ground states by local operations and classical communication, while the reverse is never possible; II) minimize the monogamy inequality for bipartite entanglement; III) minimize quantum correlations, as measured by the quantum discord,…
Classical nature of ordered quantum phases and origin of spontaneous symmetry breaking
2016
We analyse the nature of spontaneous symmetry breaking in complex quantum systems by investigating the long-standing conjecture that the maximally symmetry-breaking quantum ground states are the most classical ones corresponding to a globally ordered phase. We make this argument quantitatively precise by comparing different local and global indicators of classicality and quantumness, respectively in symmetry-breaking and symmetry-preserving quantum ground states. We first discuss how naively comparing local, pairwise entanglement and discord apparently leads to the opposite conclusion. Indeed, we show that in symmetry-preserving ground states the two-body entanglement captures only a modest…
Geometric phase kickback in a mesoscopic qubit-oscillator system
2011
We illustrate a reverse Von Neumann measurement scheme in which a geometric phase induced on a quantum harmonic oscillator is measured using a microscopic qubit as a probe. We show how such a phase, generated by a cyclic evolution in the phase space of the harmonic oscillator, can be kicked back on the qubit, which plays the role of a quantum interferometer. We also extend our study to finite-temperature dissipative Markovian dynamics and discuss potential implementations in micro and nano-mechanical devices coupled to an effective two-level system.
Variational Gibbs State Preparation on NISQ devices
2023
The preparation of an equilibrium thermal state of a quantum many-body system on noisy intermediate-scale (NISQ) devices is an important task in order to extend the range of applications of quantum computation. Faithful Gibbs state preparation would pave the way to investigate protocols such as thermalization and out-of-equilibrium thermodynamics, as well as providing useful resources for quantum algorithms, where sampling from Gibbs states constitutes a key subroutine. We propose a variational quantum algorithm (VQA) to prepare Gibbs states of a quantum many-body system. The novelty of our VQA consists in implementing a parameterized quantum circuit acting on two distinct, yet connected, q…
Counting edge modes via dynamics of boundary spin impurities
2021
We study dynamics of the one-dimensional Ising model in the presence of static symmetry-breaking boundary field via the two-time autocorrelation function of the boundary spin. We find that the correlations decay as a power law. We uncover a dynamical phase diagram where, upon tuning the strength of the boundary field, we observe distinct power laws that directly correspond to changes in the number of edge modes as the boundary and bulk magnetic field are varied. We suggest how the universal physics can be demonstrated in current experimental setups, such as Rydberg chains.
Entanglement and quantum correlations in many-body systems: a unified approach via local unitary operations
2014
Local unitary operations allow for a unifying approach to the quantification of quantum correlations among the constituents of a bipartite quantum system. For pure states, the distance between a given state and its image under least-perturbing local unitary operations is a bona fide measure of quantum entanglement, the so-called entanglement of response, which can be extended to mixed states via the convex roof construction. On the other hand, when defined directly on mixed states perturbed by local unitary operations, such a distance turns out to be a bona fide measure of quantum correlations, the so-called discord of response. Exploiting this unified framework, we perform a detailed compa…