Hierarchical Equations of Motion Approach to Quantum Thermodynamics

We present a theoretical framework to investigate quantum thermodynamic processes under non-Markovian system-bath interactions on the basis of the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) approach, which is convenient to carry out numerically "exact" calculations. This formalism is valuable because it can be used to treat not only strong system-bath coupling but also system-bath correlation or entanglement, which will be essential to characterize the heat transport between the system and quantum heat baths. Using this formalism, we demonstrated an importance of the thermodynamic effect from the tri-partite correlations (TPC) for a two-level heat transfer model and a three-level autonomous heat engine model under the conditions that the conventional quantum master equation approaches are failed. Our numerical calculations show that TPC contributions, which distinguish the heat current from the energy current, have to be take into account to satisfy the thermodynamic laws.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. As a chapter of: F. Binder, L. A. Correa, C. Gogolin, J. Anders, and G. Adesso (eds.), "Thermodynamics in the quantum regime - Recent Progress and Outlook", (Springer International Publishing

Ergot alkaloids in rye flour determined by solid-phase cation-exchange and high-pressure liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

International audienceErgot alkaloids (EAs) are mycotoxins which are unavoidable contaminants of cereal products, particularly rye. A method was compiled employing clean-up by cation-exchange solid phase extraction, separation by high-pressure liquid chromatography under alkaline conditions and fluorescence detection. It is capable of separating and quantifying both C8-isomers of ergocornine, a-ergocryptine, ergocristine, ergonovine, and ergotamine. The average recovery was 61±10 % with limits of detection from 0.2 to 1.1 µg kg-1. 34 unknown rye flour samples from Danish mills contained on average 46 µg kg-1 with a maximum content of 234 µg kg-1. The most common ergot alkaloids were ergotamine and a-ergocryptine including their C8-isomers. 54 % of the ergot alkaloids were detected as C(8)-S isomers