A new operational approach to measure work in coherent quantum systems
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A new operational approach to measure work in coherent quantum systems
Wed, 19/04/2023 - 15:00 to 16:00
Location:
Speaker:
Dr Giulia Rubino
Affiliation:
University of Bristol
Synopsis:
To capture non-equilibrium dynamics in coherent quantum systems, operational formulations of work beyond the 'average work' are required. Achieving these is a challenging task, as they typically require interactions with a measuring device at two different times, potentially altering the state of the system and impacting the final value of work. Moreover, existing no-go theorems have shown that it is impossible to find an operational definition of work for closed quantum systems that both corresponds to the average internal energy difference and recovers classical thermodynamics results for states without quantum coherence. In this talk, I will present a possible solution to this long-standing problem by showing that a small relaxation of this second requirement allows us to circumvent the no-go theorems by exploiting arbitrarily rare but large fluctuations in the work distribution. I will also demonstrate how this can be implemented in a laboratory setting using an auxiliary system to control work fluctuations, thereby making the protocol deterministic and raising it to a potential contender to standard techniques for characterising work fluctuations in quantum systems.
This seminar will be followed by coffee and biscuits.
Biography:
Giulia Rubino is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Quantum Optics and Quantum Foundations at the University of Bristol. She obtained her MSc. degree with distinction from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (2015) under the supervision of Prof. Fabio Sciarrino. She then received a uni:docs fellowship from the University of Vienna to work on experimental indefinite quantum causality in the group of Prof. Philip Walther. After completing her PhD with distinction in 2021, she has been a visiting researcher at the University of Bristol until February 2023, having been awarded a Newton International Fellowship by the Royal Society to work with Dr Jonathan Matthews and Dr Paul Skrzypczyk. She is currently leading a small team of two undergraduates and one postgraduate student at the University of Bristol working on time reversibility in quantum mechanics and indefinite quantum causality using integrated photonics, as well as theoretical quantum thermodynamics.