Relation Between Local Temperature Gradients and the Direction of Heat Flow in Quantum Driven Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to define local temperature in quantum driven systems using thermometers, revealing spatial fluctuations and confirming that local temperature accurately indicates heat flow direction.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach to measure local temperature in out-of-equilibrium quantum systems and demonstrates its effectiveness as an indicator of heat flow.

Findings

Local temperature exhibits spatial oscillations.

Local temperature accurately indicates heat flow direction.

Thermometers effectively measure local temperature in quantum systems.

Abstract

We introduce thermometers to define the local temperature of an electronic system driven out-of-equilibrium by local ac fields. We discuss the behavior of the local temperature along the sample, showing that it exhibits spatial fluctuations following an oscillatory pattern. We show explicitly that the local temperature is the correct indicator for heat flow.