Exchange Fluctuation Theorem for correlated quantum systems

TL;DR

This paper extends the Exchange Fluctuation Theorem to correlated quantum systems, revealing how correlations influence energy exchange and equilibration, with implications for quantum thermodynamics and work extraction.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized fluctuation theorem for correlated quantum states, beyond the molecular chaos assumption, and explores measurement disturbance effects.

Findings

Correlation affects energy exchange dynamics.

A semi-classical maximum work theorem is derived.

Measurement disturbance plays a significant role.

Abstract

We extend the Exchange Fluctuation Theorem for energy exchange between thermal quantum systems beyond the assumption of molecular chaos, and describe the non-equilibrium exchange dynamics of correlated quantum states. The relation quantifies how the tendency for systems to equilibrate is modified in high-correlation environments. Our results elucidate the role of measurement disturbance for such scenarios. We show a simple application by finding a semi-classical maximum work theorem in the presence of correlations.