Open access
Datum
2015-04Typ
- Journal Article
ETH Bibliographie
yes
Altmetrics
Abstract
In this brief paper, we compare two frameworks for characterizing possible operations in quantum thermodynamics. One framework considers thermal operations—unitaries which conserve energy. The other framework considers all maps which preserve the Gibbs state at a given temperature. Thermal operations preserve the Gibbs state; hence a natural question which arises is whether the two frameworks are equivalent. Classically, this is true—Gibbs-preserving maps are no more powerful than thermal operations. Here, we show that this no longer holds in the quantum regime: a Gibbs-preserving map can generate coherent superpositions of energy levels while thermal operations cannot. This gap has an impact on clarifying a mathematical framework for quantum thermodynamics. Mehr anzeigen
Persistenter Link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000101421Publikationsstatus
publishedExterne Links
Zeitschrift / Serie
New Journal of PhysicsBand
Seiten / Artikelnummer
Verlag
IOP PublishingOrganisationseinheit
03781 - Renner, Renato / Renner, Renato
Förderung
135048 - Information-theoretic methods for physics (SNF)
258932 - Generalized (quantum) information theory (EC)
ETH Bibliographie
yes
Altmetrics