Nonequilibrium entropy production for open quantum systems

TL;DR

This paper derives exact formulas for entropy production in open quantum systems driven far from equilibrium, generalizing fluctuation theorems to quantum regimes using two-point energy measurements.

Contribution

It provides a quantum generalization of the integrated fluctuation theorem and exact microscopic expressions for entropy production in open quantum systems.

Findings

Exact microscopic expressions for entropy production and rate.

Quantum generalization of Seifert's fluctuation theorem.

Applicable arbitrarily far from equilibrium.

Abstract

We consider open quantum systems weakly coupled to a heat reservoir and driven by arbitrary time-dependent parameters. We derive exact microscopic expressions for the nonequilibrium entropy production and entropy production rate, valid arbitrarily far from equilibrium. By using the two-point energy measurement statistics for system and reservoir, we further obtain a quantum generalization of the integrated fluctuation theorem put forward by Seifert [PRL 95, 040602 (2005)].