MISTI Global Seed Funds MIT-FVG (Friuli Venezia Giulia) Seed Fund Collaboration Grant (2020-2023)
"Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics of Dissipative Quantum Systems"
P. Cappellaro (MIT, PI Cambridge, MA), A. Trombettoni(University of Trieste, PI Trieste), S. Gherardini (CNR-INO), S. Ruffo (SISSA)
The project has been focused on the use of recent advances in non-equilibrium thermodynamics to characterize the dynamical properties of dissipative quantum systems. In the zero-temperature limit the thermodynamics properties of a system can be dominated by quantum effects and using the non-equilibrium thermodynamics formalism one can study both thermodynamics relations (such as Jarzynski-like relations) and their connection with the fluctuations of the physical quantities. Such formalism can be concretely used to study dissipative dynamics of open quantum systems within the long-term goal of controlling quantum systems coupled to an external environment (e.g., by quantum monitoring) and of exploring/tuning the persistence of quantum effects. Applications ranged of our results have been studied in ultracold atoms in atom chips, superconducting qubits, NMR platforms, and nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond.
The work focused on three connected directions:
- investigation of the interplay of dissipative dynamics with externally-applied quantum measurements;
- characterization of the late times dynamics and asymptotic states induced in multi-level systems by the quantum monitoring;
- study of the role of fluctuations in thermalization processes induced by quantum monitoring originated by applying a sequence of quantum measurements and their effect on the energy cost of each single measurement.
The informal "Mini-Workshop on non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics: Stochastic models and experimental platforms" take place in Boston at the end of the MIT-FVG grant "Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics of Dissipative Quantum Systems", a project who saw the participation of scientist at MIT and in the Trieste area. The goal of the meeting is to discuss in an informal manner the subject of non-equilibrium thermodynamics with the participation of US and Italian experts. We intend to put in contact recent theoretical advances with latest experimental progress, including the ones at the center of the MIT-FVG grant activity, and to plan and foster future scientific and technological work in this challenging and promising field of research.