Testing Time Reversal Symmetry in Artificial Atoms

TL;DR

This paper proposes a feasible protocol to test time reversal symmetry in superconducting artificial atoms, which could lead to the first verification of quantum work fluctuation theorems in such macroscopic quantum systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel protocol for directly testing time reversal symmetry in superconducting artificial atoms, bridging quantum mechanics and macroscopic quantum systems.

Findings

Protocol for testing time reversal symmetry proposed

Potential verification of quantum work fluctuation theorems

Advances understanding of quantum mechanics in macroscopic systems

Abstract

Over the past several decades, a rich series of experiments has repeatedly verified the quantum nature of superconducting devices, leading some of these systems to be regarded as artificial atoms. In addition to their application in quantum information processing, these `atoms' provide a test bed for studying quantum mechanics in macroscopic limits. Regarding the last point, we present here a feasible protocol for directly testing time reversal symmetry through the verification of the microreversibility principle in a superconducting artificial atom. Time reversal symmetry is a fundamental property of quantum mechanics and is expected to hold if the dynamics of the artificial atom strictly follow the Schr\"odinger equation. However, this property has yet to be tested in any macroscopic quantum system. In the end, as an application of this work, we outline how the successful implementation of the protocol would provide the first verification of the quantum work fluctuation theorems with superconducting systems.