6,269 research outputs found
Thermodynamic work from operational principles
In recent years we have witnessed a concentrated effort to make sense of
thermodynamics for small-scale systems. One of the main difficulties is to
capture a suitable notion of work that models realistically the purpose of
quantum machines, in an analogous way to the role played, for macroscopic
machines, by the energy stored in the idealisation of a lifted weight. Despite
of several attempts to resolve this issue by putting forward specific models,
these are far from capturing realistically the transitions that a quantum
machine is expected to perform. In this work, we adopt a novel strategy by
considering arbitrary kinds of systems that one can attach to a quantum thermal
machine and seeking for work quantifiers. These are functions that measure the
value of a transition and generalise the concept of work beyond the model of a
lifted weight. We do so by imposing simple operational axioms that any
reasonable work quantifier must fulfil and by deriving from them stringent
mathematical condition with a clear physical interpretation. Our approach
allows us to derive much of the structure of the theory of thermodynamics
without taking as a primitive the definition of work. We can derive, for any
work quantifier, a quantitative second law in the sense of bounding the work
that can be performed using some non-equilibrium resource by the work that is
needed to create it. We also discuss in detail the role of reversibility and
correlations in connection with the second law. Furthermore, we recover the
usual identification of work with energy in degrees of freedom with vanishing
entropy as a particular case of our formalism. Our mathematical results can be
formulated abstractly and are general enough to carry over to other resource
theories than quantum thermodynamics.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, axioms significantly simplified, more
comprehensive discussion of relationship to previous approache
Channel Blockade in a Two-Path Triple-Quantum-Dot System
Electronic transport through a two-path triple-quantum-dot system with two
source leads and one drain is studied. By separating the conductance of the two
double dot paths, we are able to observe double dot and triple dot physics in
transport and study the interaction between the paths. We observe channel
blockade as a result of inter-channel Coulomb interaction. The experimental
results are understood with the help of a theoretical model which calculates
the parameters of the system, the stability regions of each state and the full
dynamical transport in the triple dot resonances.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Work and entropy production in generalised Gibbs ensembles
Recent years have seen an enormously revived interest in the study of
thermodynamic notions in the quantum regime. This applies both to the study of
notions of work extraction in thermal machines in the quantum regime, as well
as to questions of equilibration and thermalisation of interacting quantum
many-body systems as such. In this work we bring together these two lines of
research by studying work extraction in a closed system that undergoes a
sequence of quenches and equilibration steps concomitant with free evolutions.
In this way, we incorporate an important insight from the study of the dynamics
of quantum many body systems: the evolution of closed systems is expected to be
well described, for relevant observables and most times, by a suitable
equilibrium state. We will consider three kinds of equilibration, namely to (i)
the time averaged state, (ii) the Gibbs ensemble and (iii) the generalised
Gibbs ensemble (GGE), reflecting further constants of motion in integrable
models. For each effective description, we investigate notions of entropy
production, the validity of the minimal work principle and properties of
optimal work extraction protocols. While we keep the discussion general, much
room is dedicated to the discussion of paradigmatic non-interacting fermionic
quantum many-body systems, for which we identify significant differences with
respect to the role of the minimal work principle. Our work not only has
implications for experiments with cold atoms, but also can be viewed as
suggesting a mindset for quantum thermodynamics where the role of the external
heat baths is instead played by the system itself, with its internal degrees of
freedom bringing coarse-grained observables to equilibrium.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, improvements in presentatio
Strong coupling corrections in quantum thermodynamics
Quantum systems strongly coupled to many-body systems equilibrate to the
reduced state of a global thermal state, deviating from the local thermal state
of the system as it occurs in the weak-coupling limit. Taking this insight as a
starting point, we study the thermodynamics of systems strongly coupled to
thermal baths. First, we provide strong-coupling corrections to the second law
applicable to general systems in three of its different readings: As a
statement of maximal extractable work, on heat dissipation, and bound to the
Carnot efficiency. These corrections become relevant for small quantum systems
and always vanish in first order in the interaction strength. We then move to
the question of power of heat engines, obtaining a bound on the power
enhancement due to strong coupling. Our results are exemplified on the
paradigmatic situation of non-Markovian quantum Brownian motion.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, version two is substantially revised and
contains new result
The Evolution of Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies: Disks or Spheroids?
Luminous compact blue galaxies (LCBGs) are a diverse class of galaxies
characterized by high luminosities, blue colors, and high surface brightnesses.
Residing at the high luminosity, high mass end of the blue sequence, LCBGs sit
at the critical juncture of galaxies that are evolving from the blue to the red
sequence. Yet we do not understand what drives the evolution of LCBGs, nor how
they will evolve. Based on single-dish HI observations, we know that they have
a diverse range of properties. LCBGs are HI-rich with M(HI)=10^{9-10.5} M(sun),
have moderate M(dyn)=10^{10-12} M(sun), and 80% have gas depletion timescales
less than 3 Gyr. These properties are consistent with LCBGs evolving into
low-mass spirals or high mass dwarf ellipticals or dwarf irregulars. However,
LCBGs do not follow the Tully-Fisher relation, nor can most evolve onto it,
implying that many LCBGs are not smoothly rotating, virialized systems. GMRT
and VLA HI maps confirm this conclusion revealing signatures of recent
interactions and dynamically hot components in some local LCBGs, consistent
with the formation of a thick disk or spheroid. Such signatures and the high
incidence of close companions around LCBGs suggest that star formation in local
LCBGs is likely triggered by interactions. The dynamical masses and apparent
spheroid formation in LCBGs combined with previous results from optical
spectroscopy are consistent with virial heating being the primary mechanism for
quenching star formation in these galaxies.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in "Hunting for the Dark: The Hidden
Side of Galaxy Formation", Malta, 19-23 Oct. 2009, eds. V.P. Debattista &
C.C. Popescu, AIP Conf. Se
Restricted dog leucocyte antigen (DLA) class II haplotypes and genotypes in Beagles
AbstractBeagles are commonly used in vaccine trials as part of the regulatory approval process. Genetic restriction within this breed and the impact this might have on vaccine responses are rarely considered. This study was designed to characterise diversity of dog leucocyte antigen (DLA) class II genes in a breeding colony of laboratory Beagles, whose offspring are used in vaccine studies. DLA haplotypes were determined by PCR and sequence-based typing from genomic DNA extracted from blood. Breeding colony Beagles had significantly different DLA haplotype frequencies in comparison with pet Beagles and both groups showed limited DLA diversity. Restricted DLA class II genetic variability within Beagles might result in selective antigen presentation and vaccine responses that are not necessarily representative of those seen in other dog breeds
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