Statistical Mechanics of Quantum Dynamics

Quantum Jump Method with a Finite Environment

27 May 2016, 17:30

30m

Mariehamn, Åland

Friday afternoon

Speaker

Prof. Tapio Ala-Nissila (Aalto)

Description

Measurement of work done on a driven open quantum system remains a major challenge in quantum thermodynamics. A calorimetric detection method has been proposed by J. Pekola and collaborators [1] as a feasible experimental scheme to measure work and fluctuation relations in open quantum systems. However, the detection requires a finite size for the environment, which influences the system dynamics. This process cannot be modeled with the standard stochastic approaches. We develop a quantum jump model suitable for systems coupled to a finite-size environment and discuss its application to work measurement and fluctuation relations [2].
1. J. P. Pekola, P. Solinas, A. Shnirman, and D. V. Averin, New Journal of Physics 15, 115006 (2013).
2. S. Suomela, A. Kutvonen, and T. Ala-Nissila, to appear in Phys. Rev. E (2016).