Speaker
Ken Funo
(Peking University)
Description
Path integral formalism of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory
has greatly influenced the theoretical developments of physics. For
example, a path integral description of open quantum systems has been
used to study the dissipative dynamics of the quantum systems, known as
the Caldeira-Leggett model of the quantum Brownian motion. Studies of
thermodynamics in the dissipative quantum systems have attracted renewed
interest quite recently, owing to the experimental verification of the
nonequilibrium equalities and the experimental implementation of quantum
information heat engines.
In this presentation, we develop a formalism for quantum thermodynamics
based on path integral methods. This may give new insights and
understandings about the work and heat in quantum systems. In doing so,
we use the Caldeira-Leggett model and study the work and heat
statistics. This allows us to study the non-Markov, non-rotating wave,
strong coupling regime without making any approximations. Using the path
integral method, we have derived the quantum work and heat functionals
depending on the path integral trajectories of the system. Taking the
semi-classical limit, we proved analytically the convergence of the work
and heat functionals (and thus their statistics) to their classical
counterparts.
Primary author
Ken Funo
(Peking University)
